How Armenia and Azerbaijan’s conflict could still destabilize the region

Manouk Vasilian
VOX
Sept 25 2023

The latest struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, will ripple throughout the region.

By Ellen Ioanes 
Ellen Ioanes covers breaking and general assignment news as the weekend reporter at Vox. She previously worked at Business Insider covering the military and global conflicts.

A decades-long conflict in the Caucasus flared up last week, as Azerbaijan launched an “anti-terror” strike aimed at Nagorno-Karabakh — the semi-autonomous, majority-Armenian region within its internationally recognized borders.

Now, many of those ethnic Armenians are fleeing the territory. The breakaway region’s leaders told Reuters that as many as 120,000 people — essentially the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh — would leave, out of fear of ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan’s government after the region’s de facto government capitulated to Azerbaijan last week.

For the second time in three years, Azerbaijan’s government made decisive gains in a conflict with Nagorno-Karabakh; this time, the “anti-terror” strike it carried out last week appears like it could dissolve the territory altogether. It’s a result that could echo far beyond Azerbaijan’s borders, as it has escalated an already difficult humanitarian crisis and is roiling Armenian politics.

The trouble in Nagorno-Karabakh didn’t just start last week. The region has been the locus of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but animosity between the two countries goes back to the turn of the 20th century.

After the region was absorbed into the USSR, the Soviet Union designated a majority-Armenian autonomous region within Azerbaijan in 1923 — today known as Nagorno-Karabakh.

Conflict between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan started in earnest in 1988, when the region began agitating for independence. Between 1988 and 1990, Azerbaijan carried out multiple pogroms against Armenians within its borders, and interethnic conflict was common. Moscow intervened in 1990, and in the aftermath of the dissolution of the USSR, Nagorno-Karabakh claimed independence — though the international community has never recognized the breakaway republic.

This declaration inflamed tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Backed by Armenian troops, Karabakh Armenians took control not only of their historical region, but also of much of Azerbaijan’s territory up to the border with Armenia.

While Armenia does not officially recognize Nagorno-Karabakh, this first conflict’s result was a huge moral victory for Armenia, Benyamin Poghosyan, a senior fellow on foreign policy at the Applied Policy Research Institute of Armenia, an independent think tank in Yerevan, told Vox. That territorial gain was “one of the primary pillars of independent Armenian identity,” after centuries of oppression.

But it was also an unsustainable loss for Azerbaijan — about 20 percent of its territory was now outside of the country’s control. And the war took a devastating toll; around 30,000 people were killed in the conflict, and hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azeris fled Armenia and Karabakh.

Azerbaijan, aligned with Turkey, recaptured significant territory in a 2020 war. During that conflict, Russia, which has long been Armenia’s military partner, failed to back Armenia and Karabakh Armenians. That conflict ended in a Russia-brokered ceasefire, which about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have helped ensure.

Cut to last week: On September 19, Azerbaijan launched an “anti-terror” campaign, allegedly in response to the deaths of six people in two land mine explosions within Azerbaijan.

The operation displaced at least 7,000 people and killed around 200, with thousands reportedly still missing. Wednesday, the two sides began discussing a ceasefire after the government of Nagorno-Karabakh agreed to dissolve its military.

Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh accused Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire agreement the next day, though Azerbaijan vehemently denied the claim. There were reports of heavy gunfire that Thursday, but because mobile connectivity and electricity are only sporadically available in the region, verifying claims from either party is nearly impossible.

As part of the ceasefire agreement, Reuters reported Nagorno-Karabakh has handed over 20,000 rounds of ammunition, six armored vehicles, 800 small arms, portable air defense systems, and anti-tank weapons.

In addition to dissolving the armed forces, Zaur Shiriyev, the International Crisis Group’s analyst for the South Caucasus, told Vox via email that the ceasefire agreement involves “the dismantling of all existing de facto institutions, [political] positions, and symbols, and discussions about the integration of local Armenians under Azerbaijani authority,” including how to implement some autonomy at the municipal level and protect Armenian language and customs.

Though Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has promised Karabakh Armenians a “paradise” as part of his country, the Karabakh Armenians are not taking their chances; the Lachin corridor, which connects Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, is already crammed with cars headed to Armenia — for those who have enough fuel to get there amid a serious humanitarian crisis in the region. By Sunday night, 1,050 people had entered Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian government said.

Nagorno-Karabakh, like other potential territorial conflicts, is an issue of great political volatility within Armenia because it is an issue of national pride and identity for many Armenians, and because it is a way to gauge Armenia’s power and influence in the region.

That influence has waned somewhat as Azerbaijan’s military might has grown, aided by increased oil and gas wealth and a security partnership with Turkey, and as Armenia’s relationship with Russia has diminished.

Under current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian government has distanced itself both from Russia and from Nagorno-Karabakh, insisting that it has had nothing to do with the agreement between leaders in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, and the de facto government in Stepanakert, and even backing off of previous hard-line guarantees for the region like autonomous rule, Paghosyan told Vox. Armenia was reluctant to get involved in this latest outbreak of fighting; Pashinyan said he wouldn’t let the country be “drag[ged] … into military operations.”

Russia, which helped broker peace in 2020, has also seen its role in the region greatly reduced. Russian peacekeepers have been present maintaining the 2020 ceasefire, but their influence has softened over the years, particularly due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And their presence has, at best, only been able to keep an uneasy peace, with low-level hostilities common in the region.

“The ongoing war in Ukraine has indeed weakened Russia’s role, and since 2022, coupled with [Azerbaijan’s] checkpoint in Lachin, and the recent brief war that ended with the capitulation of local Armenians, Azerbaijan has gained more control over the region’s affairs than Russia had previously,” Shiriyev said.

Russia has also struggled with maintaining the flow of goods and people across the region’s only physical connection to Armenia, the Lachin corridor. That area has been severely restricted by Azerbaijan since December 2022, Shiriyev said.

“Even before last December, when Azerbaijani-backed activists started protests near the road demanding Azerbaijani control, Baku alleged that the road was being used for unchecked transfers of weapons and natural resources from the region to Armenia,” he explained. In April of this year, Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint on the Lachin corridor, over time choking off transport completely. Since that time, the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh has become increasingly desperate, and only one humanitarian convoy, from the International Committee of the Red Cross, has been permitted to enter the region in months.

Despite Russia’s reduced status in the region, the country is still playing an administrative role in this conflict, facilitating discussions between the Azerbaijani government and local Armenian authorities. “Nowadays, if disarmament takes place, the Russian forces will play a part in it, and over time, they will coordinate the implementation of other ceasefire terms,” Shiriyev told Vox. “Baku views [Russia’s] role as a stabilizing factor, especially in areas where local Armenians live.”

The future looks challenging for Pashinyan as his internal opposition — which is friendlier with Russia than he is — is harnessing protests and frustration with the prime minister over Nagorno-Karabakh to try to get him to resign. “Protests erupted quite spontaneously and only afterwards political opposition wanted to take them over,” Meliqset Panosian, an independent researcher based in Gyumri, Armenia, told Vox.

Though there’s no suggestion of imminent war between the neighbors, regional experts said there is concern that continued crises like last week’s strike could inflame longstanding tensions. Many in Armenia “are feeling humiliated,” Poghosyan told Vox; to restore their dignity, “they will be more inclined to have more nationalistic views.” Armenia is courting other security partners in addition to Russia, and could aspire to build up its military over the coming years. While it’s decidedly the weaker of the two states, it’s not above military conflict. The interests of Russia, Turkey, Western countries, and even Iran overlap and conflict in the region, meaning the potential for animosity and outright hostility remains.

At the very least, Poghosyan said, “I am afraid that for years to come … the South Caucasus and Armenia and Azerbaijan will be volatile.”

Despite the new agreement between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, there are still a great many unknowns — primarily how Armenia will manage an influx of so many people in serious humanitarian need.

In the immediate term, the first priority is for humanitarian aid to reach the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, since many in the area are already suffering from severe hunger, Poghosyan said.

Aliyev has promised that Armenians will enjoy the right to their own language and culture, but Armenians have expressed concerns about violence and even ethnic cleansing — hence the decision by many to leave the territory en masse.

That’s not unfounded, given the region’s history. According to a 2022 State Department report, evidence was found of Armenian graves being desecrated by Azerbaijani soldiers, as well as “severe and grave human rights violations” against Armenian ethnic minorities, including “extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention, as well as the destruction of houses, schools and other civilian facilities.”

Armenian leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh told Reuters that those wishing to leave would be escorted by Russian peacekeepers to Armenia.

“Almost nobody believes in peaceful coexistence with Azerbaijanis,” Stepan Adamyan, an Armenian who works with international journalists, told Vox. “Every hour [on Facebook] I read their posts saying ‘do something, take us out of here.’”

Update, September 25, 11:30 am: This story, originally published September 23, has been updated to include developments in the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Jan. 6 defendant who wanted to arrest ‘the traitors’ to ‘protect the Capitol’ is sentenced to 4 years

Ophelia Vardapetian
NBC News
Sept 26 2023
A defiant Ed Badalian repeatedly interrupted his sentencing judge and told the U.S. marshals who took him into custody they had a duty to resist unconstitutional orders.
By Ryan J. Reilly

WASHINGTON — A conspiracy theorist convicted of felony Capitol riot charges told a federal judge at his sentencing Tuesday that he wanted to “protect the Capitol” by “arresting the traitors” on Jan. 6 before he was sentenced to more than four years in prison.

Ed Badalian, of California, said at his sentencing Tuesday that he was “frustrated” that officers protecting the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, “did not join us in arresting the traitors,” referring to members of Congress who did not overturn the 2020 presidential election in Donald Trump’s behalf.

Badalian was convicted in April of conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S., obstruction of an official proceeding and a misdemeanor count. Evidence showed that he organized paintball training sessions after Trump’s 2020 election loss and was preparing for war. He made it to the lower west terrace tunnel on Jan. 6 and into the suite of Senate hideaway offices that were ransacked by rioters.

Badalian was charged alongside two co-defendants. One, a Trump supporter named Danny Rodriguez, drove a stun gun into Washington Police Officer Michael Fanone’s neck and was sentenced to 12.5 years in federal prison in June. Rodriguez shouted “Trump won!” as he was led out of the courthouse after his sentencing.

The other defendant, Paul Belosic, is a Hollywood background actor who has appeared in several music videos and was known to online sleuths as “Swedish Scarf.” He is wanted by the FBI.

“We need to violently remove traitors and if they are in key positions rapidly replace them with able bodied Patriots,” Badalian wrote in an encrypted chat on Dec. 21, 2020, two days after Trump’s “will be wild” tweet inviting supporters to Washington on Jan. 6. Badalian’s post put the “PATRIOTS45 MAGA GANG” into action, according to prosecutors. Among those Badalian wanted to arrest on Jan. 6: then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and incoming President Joe Biden.

After his conviction, Badalian told NBC News that he thought “any person has the right to arrest anyone if they see them committing a crime or if they have knowledge of them committing a crime” and that he would have arrested Pelosi, D-Calif., for “suspicion of knowing” about “election interference.”

Prosecutors sought more than 10 years in federal prison for Badalian, citing, among other evidence, his interview with NBC News and photos in which he displayed his ankle monitor as he posed in front of the Capitol.

A defiant Badalian repeatedly interrupted U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Tuesday, to the point that she remarked it was “tempting” to lock him up for the full decade prosecutors requested. Ultimately, she sentenced him to 51 months in federal prison, saying such a sentence would be more in line with what other defendants convicted of similar conduct received.

Badalian’s behavior was “all about getting and stopping the ‘traitors,'” Jackson said. He was not trying to protect the Capitol as he claimed, she added.

“Arresting the traitors would protect the Capitol,” Badalian bellowed, drawing a rebuke from the judge. “I guess arresting traitors is not good for the country?”

Badalian, Jackson said, “can’t let go of the false story of bringing down antifa,” referring to a video that shows Badalian grabbing a person breaking a Capitol window who he claims is a member of antifa. Online sleuths have since identified that person, who is a Trump supporter but has not been arrested by the FBI.

“What you attacked was the Constitution,” Jackson said, “you were attacking the very foundation of the nation itself.”

“You are a legend in your own mind,” she told Badalian. “A hero in your own head.”

There had to be consequences for his “misguided, violent vigilantism — you do not think the rules apply to you,” Jackson said before she informed him he would be committed to the custody of the U.S. marshals immediately.

As Badalian removed his suit jacket, his tie, his belt and his shoelaces under the close watch of two marshals, he proclaimed that “this is what you get for defending the Capitol building” and questioned the loyalty of one of the law enforcement officers taking him into custody.

“How do you feel about this?” he asked. “You feel like this is right?”

Just before he was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom, Badalian told the marshal that he had the duty to resist unconstitutional orders.

 

Karabakh Underscores Russia’s Waning Influence in Ex-USSR

Adrine Hakobian
Kyiv Post, Ukraine
Sept 26 2023

Karabakh Underscores Russia’s Waning Influence in Ex-USSR

Armenia bitterly accused Russia of failing its mission when Azerbaijan last week launched a new offensive and took over the rest of the territory.

by AFP |

Azerbaijan’s lightning victory in Nagorno-Karabakh, where Moscow has stationed peacekeepers, shows that Russia’s influence is quickly dwindling in a region it has long considered its backyard, analysts say.

Russia, which has been mired in Ukraine since the start of the assault last year, refused to intervene when Azerbaijan seized control of the Armenian-populated region of Karabakh last week.

“What happened in Karabakh would have been impossible without a systemic weakening of the Russian state,” independent Caucasus expert Gela Vasadze said.

“Russia has no resources to shape the Caucasus affairs any longer.”

Over the past three decades Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian enclave within the internationally recognized border of Azerbaijan.

Following a six-week war in 2020 Armenian separatists ceded territory they had controlled for decades in a deal brokered by Russia.

Moscow deployed some 2,000 peacekeepers mandated to ensure the safety of territories remaining under separatist control and prevent any new conflict.

Armenia bitterly accused Russia of failing its mission when Azerbaijan last week launched a new offensive and took over the rest of the territory.

The hostilities that according to the separatists killed some 200 people followed a months-long blockade in Karabakh that Armenia said Russian peacekeepers had also failed to prevent.

Azerbaijan’s one-day military operation ended on Wednesday with a separatist pledge to disarm and thousands of refugees streaming into Armenia.

Russian peacekeepers “turned out to be powerless in front of one of the parties — Azerbaijan,” said independent Russian analyst Arkady Dubnov.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not mince his words on Sunday, saying a security agreements with Russia had proved “insufficient” and suggesting he would seek new alliances.

Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Moscow-led security alliance comprised of six post-Soviet states.

The group pledges to protect other members in case of an attack. “In recent days no one has mentioned the CSTO as if it does not exist,” said Dubnov.

“And that’s the truth — it does not,” he added, calling the alliance a “suitcase without a handle” – hard to carry around and a shame to abandon.

Moscow insisted that its peacekeepers were not to blame, vowed to ensure the rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and said it was maintaining dialogue with Yerevan.

But in a sign of rising tensions, Moscow on Monday accused the Armenian leadership of “running to the West.”

“The leadership in Yerevan is making a huge mistake by deliberately trying to destroy Armenia’s multifaceted and centuries-old ties with Russia,” Russia’s foreign ministry said.

This month Armenia and the United States held military drills, in the latest sign of Yerevan drifting from Moscow’s orbit.

Russia’s assault on Ukraine has spurred other ex-Soviet countries to deepen alliances elsewhere. The leaders of five Central Asian former Soviet countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan – met for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in May.

Last week US President Joe Biden met the leaders of the so-called “C5” on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

“Russia is losing its influence because it can’t offer a vision for the future, being busy with territorial expansion, mythologizing history, and looking for the future in its past,” Dubnov told AFP.

“Azerbaijan has taken advantage of the fact that Russia is focused on the conflict with Ukraine,” he added. Dubnov argued that Baku and Moscow were following the same logic as they sought to reshape their borders by force.

“The law of the strongest wins, and Moscow is leading by example.” Vasadze suggested that Russia would seek to regain ground in Armenia by helping install a new government there.

“Of course, Russia wants to maintain its influence on Armenia, where it lost its main lever – Karabakh,” he said.

“It is now focusing on its goal to have a loyal government in Yerevan and Pashinyan is not fit for the role.”

 

‘The world is seeing the true face of evil’: Patterson calls for action in Armenia

Baghdasarian Karlen
Sept 26 2023
Story by Stephene Price
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Assemblyman Jim Patterson joins the tens of thousands of Armenians in the Central Valley and across California condemning the continued horrific violations of the ceasefire in the Artsakh region at the hands of Azerbaijan – calling on immediate federal action for Armenia.

Patterson says these acts of violence over the past many months have left 120,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh struggling to survive as they are critically low on food, fuel, and medicine, adding that countless lives are being needlessly lost in the wake of Azerbaijan’s latest full-scale military assaults in this region.

Fresno’s Medical Mission to Armenia: Treating the scars of 2020

“Right now, the World is seeing the true face of evil in Artsakh,” said Assemblyman Jim Patterson. “We, as a Nation, must stand with the Armenian people and, with a unified voice, call on Azerbaijan to stop its attacks and put an end to this bloodshed.”

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Assemblyman Patterson is urging the Biden Administration to fully condemn these acts of genocide and pledge to send critical aid to the people of Armenia.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-world-is-seeing-the-true-face-of-evil-patterson-calls-for-action-in-armenia/ar-AA1hj7de 


Thousands of Armenian Christians flee homes: ‘Mass exodus has begun,’ expert says

Emil Karabekian
Sept 26 2023
A girl sleeps in a street in the town of Stepanakert on Sept. 25, 2023. Ethnic Armenian refugees began to leave Nagorno-Karabakh on Sept. 24, 2023, for the first time since Azerbaijan launched an offensive designed to seize control of the breakaway territory and perhaps end a three-decade-old conflict. | Credit: HASMIK KHACHATRYAN/AFP via Getty Images

By Peter Pinedo

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 25, 2023 / 17:15 pm

Thousands of Armenian Christians have fled their ancestral homeland in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh over the weekend and more are expected, the government of Armenia confirmed Monday.

“The mass exodus has begun,” Siobhan Nash-Marshall, a U.S.-based human rights advocate who has been speaking to witnesses on the ground, told CNA.

Nash-Marshall founded the Christians in Need Foundation (CINF) in 2011 to help Armenian Christians in the region, and in 2020 she started a school for children and adults in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Now, Nash-Marshall has received word from her school in Nagorno-Karabakh that “all is over” and that “people from all regions, all villages, are homeless” and without shelter, food, and water. 

Hundreds of ethnic Armenians are sleeping in the streets and cannot even drink water because they claim it has been “poisoned by Azeris,” according to Nash-Marshall’s contacts. 

Nash-Marshall was told that there are lines of “2,000 in front of the only bakery” near her school and that “all are hungry, frightened, and hopeless.” 

According to the government of Armenia, 6,650 “forcibly displaced persons” entered Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh since last week.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Sunday that he expects most of the 120,000 ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh to flee the region due to “the danger of ethnic cleansing,” Middle Eastern news source Al Jazeera reported.

Both former soviet territories, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. With the backing of Turkey, Azerbaijan asserted its military dominance over Armenia in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, which ended in November 2020.

Though Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, the region is almost entirely made up of ethnic Armenian Christians.

Until last week, Armenians in the region claimed self-sovereignty under the auspices of the “Republic of Artsakh.”

On Sept. 19, Azerbaijan launched a short but intense military offensive that included rocket and mortar fire. The offensive, labeled “antiterror measures” by the Azeri government, resulted in the deaths of more than 200 ethnic Armenians and over 10,000 displaced civilians, according to the Artsakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On Sept. 20, the ethnic Armenians agreed to a cease-fire that resulted in the dismantling of their military and self-governance.

Following the breakaway region’s defeat by Azerbaijan, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said that Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh would be integrated and that representatives from the enclave were “invited to dialogue” with the Azeri government.

Despite these promises, widespread fears of religious and cultural persecution have led large swathes of the population to flee to Armenia proper.

Eric Hacopian, a human rights advocate who has been on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh, told CNA that Armenians in the region are facing “horrendous” conditions in which they have “little food” and “no medicine or security.” 

Hacopian called the Azeri actions in Nagorno-Karabakh “genocide” and said that by tomorrow he expects the number of refugees to rise to 15,000 to 20,000. 

Ultimately he believes “95% to 99%” of the Armenian population in the region will flee because of the “risk of being murdered and tortured.” 

Photos posted on social media showed the highways leading out of the region’s largest city, Stepanakert, filled with massive lines of cars filled with refugees.

Eric Hacopian, a human rights advocate who has been on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh, told CNA that Armenians in the region are facing “horrendous” conditions in which they have “little food” and “no medicine or security.” 

Hacopian called the Azeri actions in Nagorno-Karabakh “genocide” and said that by tomorrow he expects the number of refugees to rise to 15,000 to 20,000. 

Ultimately he believes “95% to 99%” of the Armenian population in the region will flee because of the “risk of being murdered and tortured.” 

Photos posted on social media showed the highways leading out of the region’s largest city, Stepanakert, filled with massive lines of cars filled with refugees.

She said that deeply rooted anti-Armenian sentiment in Azeri culture is exhibited by the military’s executions of Armenian prisoners of war in 2022 as well as recently erected memorials in the Azeri capital city, Baku, that depict “grossly exaggerated life-sized figures of dead and dying Armenian soldiers and chained captives.”

“Anyone who knows the history of the Armenian Genocide will recognize the pattern of Azerbaijan’s actions with respect to Eastern Armenians and the Artsakhtsi,” Nash-Marshall said.

According to Gegham Stepanyan, an Artsakh human rights defender, “thousands” more displaced ethnic Armenians “are now waiting for their evacuation to Armenia.”

“Many of them,” Stepanyan said, “simply have nowhere to stay, so they have to wait for their turn in the streets.”

Some experts believe that Armenia itself is in danger of invasion.

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Both Azerbaijan President Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have proposed constructing a highway in the far southern portion of the Armenian province of Syunik, which is bordered by Azerbaijan both to the east and the west.

The road would connect the main portion of Azerbaijan to both its western enclave, known as Nakhchivan, as well as to Turkey.

If built, experts fear Azerbaijan could soon move to wrest control of all of Syunik.

“Let us be realistic,” Nash-Marshall said. “Azerbaijan already has grabbed a part of the region … They are also firing on border villages and have been for a year. What, then, is the threat to Armenia? Invasion.”

Aliyev and Erdogan met in Nakhchivan on Monday, further increasing fears that the pair could be eyeing a Syunik takeover.

In a Monday press conference, Aliyev lamented that “the land link between the main part of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan” was “cut off” when Soviet authorities assigned Syunik to Armenia instead of Azerbaijan, according to reporting by Reuters. 

Hacopian also said that he believes an invasion of Armenia is “quite likely” to create a highway in what is currently southern Armenia. 

Samantha Power, chief administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim landed in Armenia Monday.

In a Monday X post, Power said: “I’m here to reiterate the U.S.’s strong support & partnership with Armenia and to speak directly with those impacted by the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Many still feel that the U.S. is not doing enough to address the situation unfolding in Nagorno-Karabakh.

New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith introduced a bill Friday to require the U.S. State Department to take concrete actions to guarantee the human rights of the Armenian Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Titled the “Preventing Ethnic Cleansing and Atrocities in Nagorno-Karabakh Act of 2023,” the bill is co-sponsored by California Democrat Rep. Brad Sherman and Arkansas Republican Rep. French Hill.

If passed, the bill would require the U.S. government to take several actions in support of the impacted Armenians including terminating military aid to Azerbaijan and establishing military financing for Armenia, authorizing humanitarian assistance to Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and dispatching diplomats to the region to monitor the situation and immediately report any further human rights abuses. 

“The people of Nagorno-Karabakh are in grave danger,” Smith said in a Monday press release. “Tragically, they have been forced to disarm and surrender their independence to a ruthless dictator whose government has repeatedly committed horrific abuses against them over many years, expressed its will to ethnically cleanse them, and even initiated a genocide by starvation with the blockade of the Lachin Corridor.”

Smith went on to say that “we must work with them to ensure that the transition is not marked by continued human atrocities.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255473/thousands-of-armenian-christians-flee-homes-mass-exodus-has-begun-expert-says

Watertown police investigate ‘hate’ note left on Armenian church’s bulletin board

Nahapetian Samvel
Sept 26 2023

By Susannah Sudborough

Watertown police said Monday they are investigating a note left on an Armenian church’s bulletin board that the church characterized as hateful. 

Police were called to St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church on Elton Avenue Monday morning to investigate a “suspicious note,” the department wrote on Facebook. The note, which was taped to the church’s message board, reads “Artsakh is dead, Karabakh is Azerbaijan.” 

“Hate towards Armenians is everywhere. Stay vigilant. We cannot let this deter our fight for survival and justice,” the church wrote on Facebook. 

The note’s message is a reference to disputed territory in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the South Caucasus, the Armenian name for which is Artsakh. The territory, which is largely populated with ethnic Armenians and has made efforts to split from Azerbaijan several times in the last century, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. 

Conflict began again in the region on Sept. 19 when Azerbaijan used military force against an Armenian separatist enclave to reassert control, killing over 200 people, according to the Armenian government. Within days, Azerbaijan regained control, but on Sunday, over 1,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region as Armenia’s president warned of ethnic cleansing. 

St. Stephen’s pastor of nearly 30 years, Antranig Baljian, said the note was discovered by parents dropping off their children at the church’s elementary school. 

“There can be no other reason for something like this other than somehow trying to scare us,” he said.

Baljian said police responded right away and are checking the church’s security camera footage to try to find out who left the note. He said nothing like this has ever happened before at the church. 

“Why did this person have to do this?” he said. “We understand [the current geopolitical situation]. What happened is reality. There’s nothing that we can do here that will change that.”

St. Stephen’s congregation prayed for Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh Friday night, Baljian said. Now, he said, church members’ children are their foremost concern.

“What are they going to do next? We have to protect ourselves,” the pastor said. “All of our parents are in turmoil. They are afraid for their children.” 

Police said they are increasing patrols around the church in response to the note. 

“Please know that your police department will go to great lengths to ensure all community members feel welcome and safe in the City of Watertown,” the department wrote on Facebook. 

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Watertown Det. Ken Swift at 617-972-6538 or [email protected]. 

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2023/09/25/hate-note-watertown-armenian-church-bulletin-board-st-stephens-apostolic-police-azerbaijan/

Over 13,300 refugees flee into Armenia after Azerbaijan retakes disputed enclave

Emil Lazarian
The Journal, Ireland
Sept 26 2023
Reporters saw the refugees crowding into a humanitarian hub set up in the city of Goris to register for transport and housing.

ROUGHLY 13,350 REFUGEES have arrived in Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh – a majority ethnic Armenian breakaway enclave that was retaken by Azerbaijan last week – as Armenia’s Prime Minister has warned that ethnic cleansing is “underway” in the disputed region. 

“As of September 26 8:00am, 13,350 forcibly displaced persons entered Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Armenian government said in a statement.

Karabakh separatists have said that 20 people were killed in a fuel blast at a warehouse. 

The explosion happened at a fuel storage facility as residents were queueing up to get fuel for their cars in order to leave the region.

The Nagorno-Karabakh human rights ombudsman said that over 200 people were injured in the blast. 

The majority of the victims were in “severe or extremely severe” condition, Mr Stepanyan said yesterday, adding that the victims would need to be airlifted out of the region for medical treatment to save their lives.

Separatist authorities lay down weapons

The Azerbaijani military routed Armenian forces in a 24-hour blitz last week, forcing the separatist authorities to agree to lay down weapons and start talks on Nagorno-Karabakh’s “reintegration” into Azerbaijan after three decades of separatist rule.

While Azerbaijan has pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians in the region and restore supplies after a 10-month blockade, many local residents feared reprisals and decided to leave for Armenia.

The leaders of Azerbaijan and ally Turkey hailed Baku’s victory over the rebel enclave at a summit yesterday. 

While Azerbaijan showcased its regional alliances, Russia hit back at embattled Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after he blamed Moscow for the swift defeat of the breakaway territory.

Several days after the fighting, the first refugees arrived in Armenia yesterday and 6,650 people have so far entered, Yerevan said.

AFP reporters saw the refugees crowding into a humanitarian hub set up in a local theatre in the city of Goris to register for transport and housing.

“We lived through terrible days,” said Anabel Ghulasyan, 41, from the village of Rev, known as Shalva in Azeri.

She arrived in Goris with her family by minibus, carrying her belongings in bags.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars in the last three decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian enclave within the internationally recognised border of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan launched a military operation on 19 September to seize control of the territory, forcing the separatists to lay down their arms under the terms of a ceasefire agreed the following day.

It followed ten-month blockade of the region by Baku that caused shortages of key supplies.

The separatists have said 200 people were killed in last week’s fighting.

Baku announced two of its soldiers also died when a mine hit their vehicle on Sunday.

Azerbaijan’s state media said officials held a second round of peace talks with Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian community aimed at “reintegrating” them.

But on the road heading to Armenia, more and more residents from the region appeared to be trying to get out as the witnesses said cars were getting stuck in traffic.

At the refugee centre in Goris, Valentina Asryan, a 54-year-old from the village of Vank who fled with her grandchildren, said her brother-in-law was killed and several other people were injured by Azerbaijani fire.

“Who would have thought that the ‘Turks’ would come to this historic Armenian village? It’s incredible,” she said, referring to the Azerbaijani forces.

She was being housed temporarily in a hotel in Goris and had “nowhere to go”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lauded Baku’s “historic success” at a meeting with Azerbaijan’s leader Ilham Aliyev in the country’s western exclave of Nakhichevan.

“The window of opportunity has opened to settle the situation in the region. This opportunity must not be missed,” Erdogan said.

Aliyev vowed that the rights of ethnic Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region would be “guaranteed”.

“Karabakh’s residents – regardless their ethnicity – are citizens of Azerbaijan,” he said.

Yesterday Armenia’s premier sought to deflect blame for the outcome on long-standing ally Russia, signalling a breakdown in the countries’ security pact.

In nationally televised comments, the Armenian leader said the security agreements between the two countries had proved “insufficient”, suggesting he would seek new alliances.

Moscow slammed Pashinyan’s comments today in an angry broadside.

“The leadership in Yerevan is making a huge mistake by deliberately trying to destroy Armenia’s multifaceted and centuries-old ties with Russia,” Russia’s foreign ministry said.

“It is an attempt to absolve himself of the responsibility for the failures in domestic and foreign policy.”

Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) – a Russian-dominated group comprising six post-Soviet states that had pledged to protect each other if attacked.

Russia, bogged down in its own war in Ukraine, refused to come to Armenia’s aid, arguing that Yerevan had recognised the disputed region as part of Azerbaijan.

Now, Russian peacekeepers – six of whom died in the recent fighting – are helping Azerbaijan disarm the Karabakh rebels.

The European Union and the United States – which have been mediating between Azerbaijan and Armenia in recent months – have struggled to have an impact.

Top US aid official Samantha Power arrived in Yerevan today to stress Washington’s “strong support and partnership with Armenia”.

Brussels said it will play host to senior envoys from Azerbaijan and Armenia tomorrow, along with France and Germany.

Pashinyan is under pressure at home from thousands of Nagorno-Karabakh supporters who have been rallying and blocking roads in Yerevan since Wednesday’s ceasefire deal.

They plan more disruptions over three days starting today.

Meanwhile in Azerbaijan’s second city Ganja locals revelled in their government’s victory.

“If Armenians leave Karabakh, it’s okay, if they stay it’s very beautiful for them, if they accept our citizenship,” Shemil Valiyev, a 40-year-old merchant, told AFP.

He stood at a bus stop with posters of a young Azerbaijani soldier killed in the 2020 war.

Ramin Najafov, 44, echoed his view.

“It will be good if they all leave Karabakh, it’s also good if they stay and take the citizenship,” he said.

“Otherwise we’ll have again the problems.”

– © AFP 2023 

With one war over, the South Caucasus girds for the next

Emma Jilavian
The Arab Weekly
Sept 26 2023
A carved-out corridor in Armenia’s south would have serious implications for the region, rewriting the geopolitical map for Iran, Russia, Turkey and potentially even Israel.
Tuesday 26/09/2023

After its rapid military advance last week, Azerbaijan is set to establish full sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh, the country’s contested mountainous enclave that has been under ethnic Armenian control for three decades.

With that dispute nearing a conclusion, Azerbaijan may now move to resolve its next point of contention with Armenia: the completion of the so-called Nakhchivan (or Zangezur) corridor. But unlike Nagorno-Karabakh, a carved-out corridor in Armenia’s south would have serious implications for the region, rewriting the geopolitical map for Iran, Russia, Turkey and potentially even Israel.

In 2020, a Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement ending the 44-day war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh guaranteed “the safety of transport links between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.” Control over the land link would be managed by Armenian security forces as well as “the bodies of the Border Guard Service of the FSB of Russia.”

Because the proposed corridor slices across Syunik Province, the only portion of Armenia that borders Iran, Armenia could see its access to the Iranian market jeopardised. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, would gain a direct route not only to Nakhchivan, but also to NATO member Turkey, while Iran would see its north semi-encircled by Turkic states.

Iran considers the project a Turkish-led conspiracy to create a corridor linking NATO to the Turan steppe, the original home of the Turkic people. Bringing NATO to its northern border would weaken Tehran’s position in the South Caucasus, and pose an existential threat to Iran. That is why Iranian authorities have repeatedly said they will not tolerate changes to regional borders, calling the issue Iran’s “red line.”

Iran also worries that Israel could use recent developments to strengthen its position in the strategically important region. Between 2016 and 2020, 69 percent of Azerbaijan’s major arms imports were from the Jewish state, and rumours have long surfaced that Israel might use air bases in Azerbaijan to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. Indeed, Iran knows that if the Nakhchivan corridor is built, Tehran will become the second biggest loser of the Karabakh conflict (behind Armenia).

Russia, meanwhile, is licking its own wounds from Nagorno-Karabakh. Despite the presence of Russian peacekeepers in the enclave, deployed to the region as part of the 2020 ceasefire, Moscow was unable to stop Azerbaijan’s advance or to prevent Armenian forces from disarming and integrating into Azerbaijan.

In truth, Moscow’s commitment to Armenia has long been suspect. Following Armenia’s defeat to Azerbaijan in 2020, it became clear that the Kremlin would not defend Yerevan’s interests in Nagorno-Karabakh if it meant jeopardising Russia’s lucrative energy ties with Baku.

Consider the evidence. On September 20, several Russian troops, including a senior commander, were killed during an Azerbaijani “anti-terrorist operation” in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Kremlin said nothing. Three years earlier, during the second Karabakh war, the Azerbaijani army shot down a Russian Mi-24 military helicopter over Armenia, killing two crew members. Again, Moscow stayed silent.

Armenia, aware that it cannot count on Moscow’s support, has sought to distance itself from Russia and normalise relations not only with its arch-enemy, Azerbaijan, but also with Turkey.

Additionally, Armenia is working to establish political, economic, and military ties with the United States, hoping that doing so will strengthen its position in the region. The two sides recently held a joint military exercise, further evidence that the Kremlin will have difficulty keeping Armenia within its sphere of influence.

Thus, as a result of Azerbaijan’s recent victory in Nagorno-Karabakh, the West and Turkey could eventually crowd Russia out of the South Caucasus, making the Kremlin the third-biggest loser. Bogged down in Ukraine, Moscow seems unable to preserve its hold on Armenia, a former Soviet state whose people are in desperate need of outside support.

The end of the Karabakh conflict will be the start of a new turbulent era in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan will almost certainly continue to develop close defence cooperation with Israel and Turkey, while Armenia may attempt to diversify its arms imports, end its dependence on Moscow, and bolster military ties with the US, Iran and perhaps even India.

In other words, while one conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia may soon be settled, a far more consequential one, the fight over the Nakhchivan  corridor, is just getting started.

Written ByNikola Mikovic

    Nikola Mikovic is a political analyst in Serbia. His work focuses mostly on the foreign policies of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, with special attention on energy and “pipeline politics.”

    Asbarez: ANCA Briefs Over 80 Congressional Offices on Artsakh Humanitarian Crisis

    Kajoyan Gevork
    by Contributor

     

     

     

    in Armenia, Artsakh, Latest, News, Top Stories

    Briefing Features Eye-Witness, On-the-Ground Report on the Impact of Azerbaijan’s Genocide against Artsakh

    WASHINGTON – The brutal impact of Azerbaijan’s ongoing ethnic cleansing of the 120,000 Armenian Christians from Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) was shared today with more than eighty Congressional offices in a briefing hosted by the Armenian National Committee of America. The online update featured eyewitness accounts from the capital city of Stepanakert regarding the rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis that has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands displaced without shelter, food, or medicine.

    ANCA Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan led the Congressional ZOOM discussion, with Artsakh spokespeople describing a terrorized populace facing shortages of food, medicine, and fuel – seeking safe and unhindered transit through the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross or via methods of their own – to Armenia’s southern city of Goris. During the presentation, news emerged of a massive gas explosion in Stepanakert, resulting in hundreds injured, overwhelming local hospitals, and requiring emergency airlifts to save lives.

    Since December 2022, Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin Corridor – the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia and the outside world – depriving Artsakh’s population of food, fuel, and medicine, in what international experts have called genocide through starvation.  On September 19th, Azerbaijani forces attacked Artsakh with rockets, artillery, and drones, killing over 300 and displacing tens of thousands.  In the aftermath of the blockade and attack, over 6,000 Artsakh refugees have already reached Goris, with cars lined up for miles seeking safe-haven in Armenia with no security guarantees.

    The ANCA’s Congressional briefing coincided with US Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power’s and Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim’s arrival in Yerevan for meetings with Armenian Government officials and a visit to southern Armenia to meet with Artsakh refugees.  Over the past three years – despite repeated calls by Members of Congress, the Armenian American community, and a coalition of ethnic, human rights, and faith-based groups – the Biden Administration has refused to send U.S. humanitarian assistance to Artsakh, while continuing U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan’s corrupt Aliyev regime.

    During the Congressional briefing, Yerimyan and Artsakh advocates called on Congress to press the Biden Administration to:

    1. Send immediate humanitarian assistance – including an airlift – to help the growing number of Artsakh refugees in Armenia and those still under Azerbaijani threat in Artsakh.
    2. Provide US and international monitors in Artsakh and along the humanitarian corridor to Armenia to ensure the safety of the Armenian population from further Azerbaijani aggression.
    3. Enforce Section 907 restrictions on US military assistance to Azerbaijan
    4. Sanction Azerbaijan for its aggression and genocidal actions against Artsakh’s indigenous Armenian population

    Last week, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senate and House members introduced the “Supporting Armenians Against Azerbaijani Aggression Act of 2023” (S. 2900 and H.R. 5683) and a similar measure (H.R.5686), which would rescind the State Department’s waiver authority of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support act.  The measures also condemn Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, call for humanitarian aid for Armenians affected by Azerbaijani aggression, and demand Azerbaijan release all Armenian POWs.  The legislation also authorizes multi-year appropriations of direct U.S. humanitarian aid to Artsakh and for energy, science, and military programs in Armenia.

    Türkiye’s Erdogan calls on Armenia to take ‘sincere steps towards peace’ on Azerbaijan trip

    Adrine Hakobian
    CGTN
    Sept 26 2023
    Türkiye’s Erdogan calls on Armenia to take ‘sincere steps towards peace’ on Azerbaijan trip
    Louise Greenwood

    Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Armenia to take what he calls “sincere steps towards peace,” after last week’s takeover by Azerbaijan of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

    He was speaking alongside Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on a trip to the Azerbaijani autonomous enclave of Nakhchivan, just as thousands of ethnic Armenians continue to flee their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

    Last week Baku launched what it called an “anti-terrorist operation” in the mountainous region, that left an estimated 200 ethnic Armenians dead. 

    Attending to open a new military facility, Erdogan said the takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh provided “an historic opportunity to build peace” in the South Caucasus region. The Turkish president urged Armenia to “seize the hand extended to them.” 

    Speaking alongside him, Azerbaijan’s Aliyev said the operation to take control of Nagorno-Karabakh was carried out with what he called “the utmost sensitivity to the rights of civilians.”

     

    Explosions and arrests

    The contested region is internationally recognized as being part of Azerbaijan but is home to an estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians. Baku says it was forced to act after claiming that six of its citizens had been killed by landmines in two separate incidents in the territory, blaming Armenian armed groups for the incidents. 

    Since the shelling by Azerbaijani forces last week, Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh have begun fleeing their homes and heading for the main border crossing into Armenia. On Monday there were reports of an explosion and injuries at a gas station as long queues built up, with people jostling to fill up their cars.

    In the Armenian capital Yerevan, angry protests have continued between security forces and demonstrators who accuse the government of Nikol Pashinyan of failing to protect citizens of the region. More than 140 arrests have been made. 

    Prime Minister Pashinyan has been defending his role, arguing that the leadership in the breakaway enclave has contributed to the unrest. He added that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh are now facing “ethnic cleansing” from the region.

    In Moscow, a Kremlin spokesman has responded to claims by some Armenians that Russia has failed to act to support its main ally in the Caucasus. Dmitry Peskov says that Russia “categorically disagrees” that it bears responsibility for the violence of recent days.

    Azerbaijan has said the Karabakh Armenians can continue to live peacefully in Nagorno-Karabakh if they are willing to lay down weapons and accept being governed from Baku. But with many more people moving to the border, the assurances seem to be ringing hollow to many.

    https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2023-09-26/T-rkiye-s-Erdogan-tells-Armenia-to-take-sincere-steps-towards-peace–1npLBkL1XWw/index.html