12:21,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. The family of a young woman who was killed in a tragic car crash in Armenia last week has been denied by Azerbaijan access to bury her in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson said Saturday.

“Helen was resident of Nagorno Karabakh, studying in Armenia. She died in horrific car accident 5 days ago. Azerbaijan is refusing repatriation of her body to her homeland for burial. Same through ICRC. Now Helen’s body is ‘waiting’,” foreign ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan said in a post on X.

The Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022. The Azerbaijani blockade constitutes a gross violation of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, which established that the 5km-wide Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Furthermore, on February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.  Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since. The ICJ reaffirmed its order on 6 July 2023.

Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor. The blockade has led to shortages of essential products such as food and medication. Azerbaijan has also cut off gas and power supply into Nagorno Karabakh, with officials warning that Baku seeks to commit ethnic cleansing against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hospitals have suspended normal operations.

 13:25,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office Arayik Harutyunyan and Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan traveled to Syunik Province from Yerevan on a commuter flight to join locals for celebrations of Kapan Day, the government’s press service reported.

The government officials flew to Kapan from Yerevan on board the NovAir airlines Let L-410 Turbolet twin-engine plane. NovAir is launching Yerevan-Kapan flights on August 19.

In Kapan’s “Syunik” airport, Harutyunyan and Grigoryan were welcomed by the Syunik Governor Robert Ghukasyan and other officials.

They toured the Syunik airport and inspected the conditions.

 13:50,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani military has been keeping the only wheat field in the Sarushen village under gunfire for a long time to deprive the residents of the opportunity of producing bread, the Nagorno-Karabakh State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan warned Saturday.

Farmers and agricultural equipment are targeted by Azerbaijani forces from nearby outpost whenever they try to approach the wheat field for harvesting.

On August 15, the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities reported that a man has died of starvation in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the ongoing Azeri blockade which has led to a humanitarian disaster.

“Although every time the date and time of the planned harvest is coordinated by the Russian peacekeepers with the Azerbaijani side, and the harvest is organized at the presence of the peacekeepers on the ground, as soon as the work starts a constant shooting from various small arms starts taking place, and the agricultural work gets suspended while the civilians are taken to a safe location by the peacekeepers,” Nersisyan added.

“The residents of Sarushen are deprived of their only source of bread, the chance of collecting grain,” Nersisyan said.

Farmers in Sarushen have come under Azeri gunfire many times throughout the week.

The Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022. The Azerbaijani blockade constitutes a gross violation of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, which established that the 5km-wide Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Furthermore, on February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.  Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since. The ICJ reaffirmed its order on 6 July 2023.

Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor. The blockade has led to shortages of essential products such as food and medication. Azerbaijan has also cut off gas and power supply into Nagorno Karabakh, with officials warning that Baku seeks to commit ethnic cleansing against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hospitals have suspended normal operations.

 14:33,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has issued an Active Genocide Alert in Nagorno-Karabakh and called on international leaders to take immediate action against Azerbaijan to prevent further deaths after a man died of starvation resulting from the blockade.

“The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is distressed by the news of the death of K. Hovhannisyan, 40, who died of starvation on August 15, 2023, as a direct result of the Azerbaijani blockade of Artsakh, as evidenced by reports from both the coroner and the medical examiner of the Republic of Artsakh,” the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention said in a statement. “The Artsakh blockade, which has been ongoing since the 12th of December, 2022, is the cause of increasing malnutrition, miscarriages, and medical complications related to people being unable to access proper food and medical care. Now, the blockade has begun to cause the direct death of Armenian citizens of Artsakh through starvation.

“This blockade is genocidal in its intent, which is to eliminate the Armenian population of Artsakh, either through mass displacement or mass starvation. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has himself said as much on several occasions, including in his statement on May 29th, 2023, when he threatened: “There will be no third invitation. Either they themselves will come to us humbly, or events will develop in a different direction. We have every opportunity to carry out any operation in that region. Therefore, the “parliament” must be dissolved, the element calling itself “president” must surrender, all “ministers,” “deputies,” and others must already leave their posts. Only in this case can we talk about any kind of amnesty.”

“The Lemkin Institute wants to make clear that leaders such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and all other leaders who have created the impunity with which President Aliyev now operates, are directly responsible for the death of this man, as well as any others who may die as a result of this blockade. They also may be complicit in the crime of genocide.

“The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention wants to once again make clear that any individual and/or state enabling Azerbaijan in the blockade of Artsakh, whether directly through foreign aid or indirectly by refusing to use all the diplomatic tools at their disposal, is complicit in this genocide of the 120,000 citizens of the Republic of Artsakh, and could be held responsible for complicity in a court of law. It is urgent that international leaders take immediate action against Azerbaijan to prevent further deaths in the Republic of Artsakh,” it added.

 10:14,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. Shots were fired on August 18 from the territory of Azerbaijan in the direction of the “Syunik” airport in Kapan, the National Security Service of Armenia (NSS) said in a statement Friday.

“At 04:24 a.m., August 18, three shots were fired by an unknown person, who came to the adjacent territory of the Syunik airport of Kapan in Syunik Province on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border line, on an unknown vehicle, in the direction of Kapan’s Syunik airport who then left the area. Two bullets damaged the airport’s window and roof. We call upon the Azerbaijani authorities to conduct a proper investigation into the incident and take measures to rule out the repetition of such incidents. The NSS Border Guard of Armenia is ready for a joint investigation and can relay the respective footage to the Azerbaijani side,” the NSS said in a statement.

The shooting happened hours after a plane carrying Prime Minister Pashinyan in Kapan on August 17. 

 11:01,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan violated the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire on August 18 in the Martuni region, the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Defense Ministry said Friday.

In a statement, the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry said that the Azeri military opened small arms fire in the direction of a tractor working in the fields of Myurishen village.

“It is obvious that by consistently obstructing agricultural work, Azerbaijan seeks to further deepen the humanitarian disaster in the Republic of Artsakh resulting from the blockade,” the ministry added.

The Azeri military twice targeted Nagorno-Karabakh farmers on August 17 as well.

 11:09,

STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has cut off the internet fiber-optic cable near its illegal checkpoint in Lachin Corridor, disrupting Nagorno-Karabakh’s (Artsakh) internet access, a senior Nagorno-Karabakh official said Friday.

Artak Beglaryan, the advisor to the State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, said in a statement that Azerbaijan cut off the cable at 17:55 on August 17.

Nagorno-Karabakh specialists tried to approach the area together with Russian peacekeepers to restore the cable but were not allowed to proceed by Azeri authorities.

Beglaryan said negotiations between the peacekeepers and the Azerbaijani side continue in order to allow specialists to access the site and repair the cable.

“I don’t find it to be a coincidence that this new crime took place after the UN Security Council meeting and literally five minutes before the start of a press conference on the genocide in Artsakh. As a result of this provocation, the Artsakh-based speakers of the press conference, the Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan and displaced citizen Alvina Nersisyan, were able to join the two other speakers, Artsakh Foreign Minister Sergey Ghazaryan and former ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, 45 minutes late using unstable and alternative communication. Despite the Azerbaijani efforts, the press conference took place, with 130 participants from 27 countries. Now, very limited volume of internet is accessible in Artsakh through unstable radio communication, which is also continuously under Azerbaijani jamming,” Beglaryan added.

 13:05,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan continues to distort the appeals of the international community, to look for false pretexts, not corresponding to reality, to avoid fulfilling its obligations and, by prolonging the humanitarian crisis, including through starvation to subject the indigenous people of Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic cleansing, the Armenian Foreign Ministry warned on Friday.

In a statement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that the UN Security Council, convened on August 16 at the request of the Republic of Armenia, once again proved that, despite the false propaganda of Azerbaijan, the international partners are clearly aware of the fact of the dire humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and realize the importance of addressing it.

Below is the full statement released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

“The urgent meeting of the UN Security Council, convened on August 16 at the request of the Republic of Armenia, once again proved that, despite the false propaganda of Azerbaijan, the international partners are clearly aware of the fact of the dire humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and realize the importance of addressing it. During this second discussion in the format of the UN Security Council, the assessments and targeted appeals addressed to Azerbaijan, in essence, complemented the clear positions expressed so far by various governments, international structures, and human rights organizations.

“Noteworthy were the statements of the members of the UN Security Council and the EU representative reiterating that Azerbaijan is obliged to lift the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor in accordance with the Trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, and the legally binding Orders of the UN International Court of Justice of February 22 and July 6. It was unequivocally emphasized that the ongoing 8-month-long severe humanitarian situation created for the population of Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the blockade should be resolved.

“It is evident that Azerbaijan continues to distort the appeals of the international community, to look for false pretexts, not corresponding to reality, to avoid fulfilling its obligations and, by prolonging the humanitarian crisis, including through starvation to subject the indigenous people of Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic cleansing. Moreover, Azerbaijan tries to manipulate any “balanced” approach of international actors, interpreting it as an explicit permission to continue its adopted policy.

“We emphasize the urgency of using all available international tools to eliminate the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and restore unimpeded movement in both directions through the Lachin corridor and ensure unhindered access of international humanitarian organizations to Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, highly appreciating the principled and fair positions of the UN Security Council members that remain faithful to their mandate to advance international security and peace, will continue to work on various platforms, including in the UN Security Council, taking consistent steps to unblock the Lachin corridor and resolve the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

 14:21,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. Member of the European Parliament François Alfonsi (France), the Co-chair of the European Parliament-Artsakh Friendship Group, is not fully satisfied with the EU’s policy regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, the MEP believes that as a result of consistent work and pressure by the European Parliament, the EU is trying to be more active and involved in the process.

In an interview with ARMENPRESS Brussels correspondent Lilit Gasparyan, Alfonsi said that first of all Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin must adhere to the 9 November 2020 agreement.

He said that the logic of the Cold War-era corridor between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) could be an example for a possible solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The EU is more or less dealing with the issue,” Alfonsi said when asked to assess the EU’s policy in responding to the Nagorno-Karabakh humanitarian disaster resulting from the blockade.

“And I think this is a result of the European Parliament’s consistent work and pressure. The monitoring mission that Mr. Borrell sent to Armenia is nevertheless a positive step. Besides, the President of the European Council is bringing together the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to try and find a way out. I think Europe is involved to some extent, and this is more in the interest of the Armenian people for Europe to be involved, because Europe, in addition to international diplomatic influence, also has means of economic pressure, which are real.  The EU could utilize these means if it wanted to. It’s a difficult situation, and if Europe were to leave any initiative the situation would become more difficult. This is my first response. Secondly, there is an international agreement that must be respected. This is a precondition, the ceasefire agreement, which explicitly envisages free movement along Lachin Corridor under guarantees of Russian peacekeepers. It’s only them on the ground and they know what they should do, therefore I think this should be the starting point of discussions. By closing the Lachin Corridor Mr. Aliyev is using his position of force. He has made proposals on new possible entrances and roads, which would run through Azeri territory, under its complete control. But this cannot happen, because there is no trust, particularly by the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh. Europe must show that by uniting main actors, it has the influence to impose complete respect for the 2020 ceasefire agreement, because everything must happen around it [agreement].”

“The only thing recognized by everyone, by Russians, Americans, Europeans, and the Azerbaijanis and Armenians, is the ceasefire agreement that has been signed, including by Mr. Aliyev. Therefore, the first thing that needs to be asked from the international actors is to tell Mr. Aliyev to respect his own signature,” the MEP added.

François Alfonsi added that there is a strong majority in the European Parliament that will continue supporting the Armenian people.

He noted that the EU monitoring mission sent to the Armenian border has suppressed to some extent further attacks by Azerbaijan.

MEP Alfonsi warned that Aliyev’s ultimate goal is the complete invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh and stressed that only a coalition of major powers can prevent this.

Asked on his view about a possible peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Member of the European Parliament said that the main principle of such an agreement should be the respect of every citizen’s right.

“The main principle is for every citizen to be able to say ‘my rights are respected.’ There can be peace only when people will consider their rights to be respected. How can the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh say that their rights or territory are respected in these conditions? They can’t. Europe knows this well,” Alfonsi said.

“…it is necessary to have guarantees regarding the territorial integrity, the rights of the Armenian population and the inviolability of the Lachin Corridor, just like between West Germany and East Germany during the Cold War,” he added.

 14:47,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. On August 18, in New York, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met with United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, the foreign ministry said in a press release. 

Ararat Mirzoyan particularly presented the extremely difficult humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, stressing that the responsible actors of the international system should not allow it to turn into a real humanitarian catastrophe. The Minister emphasised the special role and prevention function of the UN Security Council as a structure with a mandate to maintain peace and security.

Touching upon the unfolded difficult conditions for the vulnerable groups of 120,000 people in Nagorno-Karabakh, Minister Mirzoyan stressed the urgency of implementing the Orders of the International Court of Justice of February 22 and July 6 and lifting Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor.

In the context of establishing lasting stability in the region, Minister Mirzoyan emphasised the need for Azerbaijan to refrain from actions and provocations aimed at neutralising international efforts in that direction and the possibility of achieving peace.