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[Yervant1]

 Political Victory over Azerbaijan
            Is as Important as the Military Victory
            By Harut Sassounian
            Publisher, The California Courier
            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

While Armenians around the world have been justifiably focusing on the
successes of the Armenian military over Azerbaijan during the
three-day attack last month, the political victory is just as
important.

If you win the war, but lose the peace, then you have not accomplished
much. The best solution is to win the war and then draw a long-term
benefit from that military success.

Fortunately, Pres. Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has provided the best
opportunity for Armenians to benefit from the recent skirmish on the
border between the two countries.

Aliyev recently fired his long-term Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
for engaging in “meaningless” negotiations with Armenia. This is the
best thing that Aliyev could have said from the Armenian point of
view. If Aliyev is unhappy with the negotiations, Armenians welcome
his statement.

We should remember that the ongoing negotiations between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, under the guidance of the Minsk Group of mediators, are
solely for the benefit of Azerbaijan which expects to extract
concessions from Armenia on the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh) conflict.
Armenians should not expect to gain anything from these negotiations.
They have already accomplished what they want from the conflict with
Azerbaijan by successfully liberating the occupied territories of
Artsakh. It is unrealistic to expect that Azerbaijan would someday
acknowledge that Artsakh is an independent territory or a part of the
Republic of Armenia. Therefore, these negotiations are useless for the
Armenian side. They are only carried out for the sake of giving the
appearance to the international public opinion that Armenians are not
opposed to finding a peaceful, negotiated solution to the conflict.
These negotiations are carried out more for propaganda purposes than
for achieving concrete results.

However, Armenia continues to carry out these negotiations while
Azerbaijan persists on using sharpshooters or periodic attacks on
Artsakh and Armenia proper to kill and injure Armenian soldiers and
civilians or damage Armenian properties.

I have tried to bring this problem to the attention of Armenia’s
leaders in the past. I discussed this issue several years ago with
Armenia’s Defense Minister, Seyran Ohanyan. I explained to him that
Armenia should temporarily suspend the negotiations with Azerbaijan
while the Azeri side was shooting on Armenian soldiers. Armenia should
announce to the world that it believes in peaceful negotiations, but
Azerbaijan continues to fire across the border. One cannot sit at the
negotiating table while the other side is shooting at you. You either
negotiate or fight. You cannot do both at the same time. The Defense
Minister told me that this is a political decision which should be
taken up with President Serzh Sargsyan. Ohanyan said that he was only
involved in military matters.

I then met with President Sargsyan and gave him the same explanation
that I had given to his Defense Minister. I emphasized that I was not
calling for the cancellation of the negotiations with Azerbaijan which
would have left the wrong impression on the international community. I
urged the President to announce that even though Armenia believes in
peaceful negotiations, Azerbaijan continues its warmongering actions.
The world would understand that negotiations cannot be carried out
under such circumstances. One can either negotiate or fight, but not
do both. Therefore, the President of Armenia should announce that if
Azerbaijan, henceforth, shoots on the Armenian side, Armenia would
suspend the negotiations for three months. If the Azeri shootings
persist, Armenia would prolong the suspension of negotiations. Without
any negotiations taking place, Azerbaijan would be the loser, as
negotiations are Azerbaijan’s only chance of getting some concessions
from Armenia. Eventually, as the negotiations become frozen for a
lengthy period, the Minsk Group of negotiators would pressure
Azerbaijan to agree to observe a total ceasefire if it wanted to
continue the negotiations.

Regrettably, I could not convince Pres. Sargsyan to agree to this
peaceful approach. As a result the Azeri shootings continued during
the negotiations while dozens of young Armenian and Azeri soldiers
were killed.

Nevertheless, I was happy to read sometime after my meeting with Pres.
Sargsyan that he had announced on Oct. 24, 2017, during his lecture at
the Armenian National Defense Research University, according to
Mediamax Armenian news agency, that “You either negotiate or shoot,
and we are ready for both cases.” He was also quoted as saying that
the negotiations should be held only in case of mutual trust, built by
adhering to ceasefire regime, while any provocations may block the
process.

Unfortunately, Pres. Sargsyan had announced only partially what I had
suggested. He had left out the warning to Azerbaijan that negotiations
would be suspended the next time they shoot across the border.

Nevertheless, I believe that this is the right time for Armenia’s new
leaders to consider my suggestion, especially since Pres. Aliyev had
stated that he does not believe in “meaningless” negotiations. I was
dismayed that Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan just
announced that Armenia was ready to resume the negotiations with
Azerbaijan, as if the attacks in early July had not taken place. The
only time Azerbaijan would be deterred from carrying out new attacks
on Armenia and Artsakh, if it pays a heavy price both militarily and
diplomatically. Just to carry on as usual, ignoring the attacks, would
be counterproductive. It would simply encourage Azerbaijan to continue
shooting and shelling.

In the meantime, Armenians both in and out of Armenia have to set
aside their internal differences and make all efforts to strengthen
the Armenian military. This is no time to engage in internal
dissensions at a time when our enemies, Azerbaijan and Turkey, are
testing our resolve.

[Yervant1]

July 31 2020

 

Will a local defeat in Tovuz be fatal for Azerbaijan?

31/07/2020 Conflicts

By Anton Evstratov On July 12, armed clashes broke out on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which eventually led to tactical military successes for the Armenian army and caused a huge public outcry far beyond the borders of the South Caucasus region. Anton Evstratov The uniqueness of this situation is that sufficiently large-scale hostilities took place not on the borders of the unrecognized republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), but on the line of contact between Azerbaijan and, in fact, Armenia in (Tavush region of Armenia – Tovuz region of Azerbaijan). Azerbaijani troops unexpectedly recklessly attacked the Armenian positions. After a warning fire from the Armenian side, they were stopped and left the battlefield, leaving a UAZ vehicle there. The reason for this aggressive act, perhaps globally, was some attempts by Azerbaijan to redirect the attention of its society from the ever-increasing socio-economic and political problems (falling living standards due to lower energy prices, some political problems, including the conflict of the Pashayev clan with the conditional technocrats led by former Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov, Russian-Turkish gas and political contradictions, etc.). However it is not serious to talk about this specifically in relation to the attack with UAZ. Most likely, the Azerbaijani detachment, being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, simply got lost, falling under fire from the Armenian military. Later, the Azerbaijanis tried to return the abandoned car, launching an attack and supporting it with artillery fire, but this action was unsuccessful – the assault units were repulsed with losses, and the artillery was suppressed. Armenian troops, in turn, launched a daring counterattack, during which the dominant height was occupied. This made it possible for the Armenian Armed Forces to control the situation in the Azerbaijani village of Agdam. On July 13, the clashes continued – Azerbaijan used armored vehicles and unmanned aircraft, and used them until the very end of the conflict. The equipment did not achieve the assigned tasks – moreover, the Armenians managed to knock out at least 2 Azerbaijani tanks and destroy and “plant” (taking control) more than 10 UAVs. Some of them, both in parts and in full, were later put on public display in Yerevan. Perhaps the destruction and, especially, the seizure of Azerbaijani drones (Israeli and Turkish production) and their subsequent research will be an important milestone in the development of Armenian unmanned aircraft. It should be noted that in this conflict too, Armenian UAVs, including drums, showed themselves beyond praise, causing panic on the Azerbaijani side and destroying a certain amount of its manpower and equipment. Moreover, on the 13th of the Armenian Armed Forces, another counterattack was successful, which ended with the capture of the second Azerbaijani position – practically within the village of Agdam. This made it possible for the Armenian troops to control the regional center of Tovuz. At night, the Azerbaijanis tried to restore the status quo with another attack, but failed again. Along with the hostilities in the Tovuz region, Armenia and Azerbaijan clashed in the public arena, both at the level of online information and in the plane of official statements. So, in the very first hours after the start of clashes at the border, Baku initiated the appearance on social networks of a huge number of allegedly Armenian users who began to talk about some relatives serving in Tavush and reporting on the plight of the Armenian army. Such attempts at disinformation were immediately exposed – firstly, they all together called the same, certainly round, numbers, and secondly, the tonality and even the syllable of their messages were almost copied from those posts that Azerbaijani fakes also wrote even during the aggravation in April 2016 in Nagorno-Karabakh. There were also Azerbaijani attempts to portray the video of socio-political protests in Armenia in 2018 and later as “anti-war actions”, which was also quickly revealed and exposed. The same fate befell the video of the “destruction” of the Armenian positions – one of them, as it turned out, was taken from the chronicle of the exercises of the Russian army, and the other was a video recording of the destruction of the Azerbaijani post by the armed forces of Armenia. On the third day, July 14, the first data on losses appeared, which began to grow rapidly. Baku has lost in killed and wounded this time much more servicemen than Yerevan. To date, Azerbaijan has recognized 12 killed, including the military of a fairly high level – the chief of staff of the 3rd corps, Major General Polad Gashimov, the chief of the corps artillery, Colonel Ilgar Mirzeev, Majors Anar Novruzov and Namig Akhmedov. Later, under strange circumstances, they were joined by the chief of staff of the Khudat border detachment, Colonel Mirza Shahin, who died, however, according to the official version, not in the course of hostilities, but in a car accident. This version cannot but raise doubts. Moreover, given that official Baku usually does everything to hide its losses, it can be assumed that in fact there are many, and possibly many times more people killed from the Azerbaijani side. As an example of this kind of suppression and concealment of the truth by the Azerbaijani leadership, one can note the unsuccessful attack on the Armenian positions of the Yashma special forces unit on the night of July 15-16, which ended in failure and the death of several dozen people. According to the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani special forces did not even have time to join the battle – they were covered with artillery fire as soon as they were within its reach. Speakers of the Armenian Armed Forces reported the deaths of at least 20 attackers, whom the Azerbaijanis then, in agreement with the Armenian military, carried from the battlefield. Official Baku did not say a word about this. There was also a strange story with the former Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan Rahim Gaziyev, who on the second day of the exacerbation announced 12 killed Azerbaijani soldiers. A few hours after this statement, Gaziev was kidnapped by unknown persons in masks, who eventually turned out to be employees of the National Security Service of Azerbaijan. The ex-minister was charged with provocation and appeals against the authorities, and he is still being held in a pre-trial detention center. The Armenian army has lost 6 people killed, and two soldiers have died in hospitals in recent days. 36 people were injured. The Azerbaijani side published huge lists of Armenian soldiers, the names of which, however, turned out to belong to the victims of the April 2016 war, which once again exposed Baku to this conflict and the presentation of information on it is very odious. At the moment, the Armenian side has moved forward, capturing and holding at least 2 Azerbaijani positions – one of them controls the city of Tovuz, and the other is being driven like a wedge between other Azerbaijani posts, breaking the connection between them. Thus, we can state a serious tactical success of the Armenian armed forces, albeit a local one. In this regard, the situation in the Tovuz region of Azerbaijan was very alarming – photos appeared on the Internet showing a massive exodus of civilians from border villages. However, at the moment, the panic in a sense, not without the help of the military police and the State Security Service, has subsided. Such an outcome could not and cannot suit the leader of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, since Without ending this conflict with any, albeit local and visible, success, it runs the risk of social upheavals within the country – it is obvious that the Azerbaijani society will have to explain the reasons for the deaths of dozens of military personnel and the loss of territories and expensive military equipment. Aliyev’s problems began almost immediately after the first news of the victims – a 30,000-strong demonstration in Baku demanded to immediately start a war against Armenia and Artsakh. In addition, the intensified contradictions in the government of Azerbaijan led to the resignation of Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov. Baku has taken a number of measures to increase the authority of its military leadership and the authorities in general. First, the peaceful infrastructure of Armenian border settlements, including the city of Berd and the villages of Aygepar, Movses, and others, were bombed. 24 residential buildings, 1 kindergarten, a gas pipeline, a water supply, a police post, a wine and brandy factories, 4 cars and a cemetery were damaged. Then, on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nakhichevan, a civilian from the village of Khndzoresk, Narek Sardaryan, was captured by the Azerbaijanis, who stated on camera that he had moved to Azerbaijan voluntarily due to the difficult economic and political situation in Armenia. These words cannot be taken seriously, since, apparently, the man simply got lost, was kidnapped by the Azerbaijani military and faced their threats. Having failed to achieve serious successes in the military-political plan, the Azerbaijani side tried to act with the help of its diasporas abroad. The latter initiated clashes with Armenians in Los Angeles and Brussels, as well as the “apricot war” and an open hunt for lonely Armenians in Moscow. Of all the above, the Russian case should be analyzed in more detail. First, the Food City shopping center, owned by the natives of Azerbaijan Zarakh Iliev and God Nisanov, stopped accepting Armenian agricultural products. As a result, the Armenian diasporas called on their compatriots to immediately buy up perishable fruits and vegetables, which was done in the next few hours. The Azerbaijani boycott extended to retail outlets in St. Petersburg, but the goods there were quickly sold out. As a result, the conflict was de jure resolved with the intervention of the Moscow authorities, but contradictions still persist. Then organized gangs of Azerbaijanis began to attack lonely Armenians, and not only in Moscow, but also in St. Petersburg and other cities. As a result, several people were injured, and videos of the beatings were leaked. The Moscow police reacted quickly enough, and quite harsh arrests soon followed. However, not only Azerbaijanis were detained, but also Armenians, who tried to defend themselves and organized actions against xenophobia and violence. Nevertheless, at the moment, a significant number of Armenian activists have already been released. A number of criminal cases were initiated against the instigators of Azerbaijani provocations under the article “Hooliganism”. But, it is now quite obvious that not only local bandits, but also the “conductors” from Baku were organizing the riots in Moscow. Among them, for example, is the former officer of the Azerbaijani army Mousavi, who is currently a member of the administration of Ilham Aliyev. Thus, it can be stated that this action, albeit indirectly, was orchestrated by the Azerbaijani authorities. At the moment, however, the situation has calmed down, and has moved to the legal plane – the participants in the attacks and their victims are waiting for the investigation and courts. Events around the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in the diplomatic plane developed quite characteristically. The permanent ally of Baku, Turkey, literally in the first hours of exacerbation unconditionally supported Azerbaijan. The corresponding statement was published by the country’s Foreign Ministry. Later, similar theses were voiced by Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Russia, an ally of Armenia, in turn called on both sides of the conflict to restraint, but then the Russian Foreign Ministry noted the unacceptability of the intervention of the members of the Minsk Group in the conflict. This message was addressed to Turkey as she is the only member of the group who intervened diplomatically in the situation, and did not rule out the transfer of intervention to the military plane. Then Russia lifted its helicopters from the 102nd base in Armenia, sending them to patrol the Armenian-Turkish border, which can also be regarded as a designation of the Russian position in the region for the Turkish military-political leadership. A few days later, the Russian Defense Ministry initiated unscheduled checks in the Western and Southern military districts. Note that the latter includes the mentioned 102nd military base, stationed in the RA. Also, Armenia drew attention to the situation in the CSTO, of which it is a member. However, it was not about a request for military assistance, but only about a diplomatic assessment of Azerbaijan’s aggression. According to the representative of the Armenian Armed Forces Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the Armenian army coped with the enemy on its own. Soon, the armed forces of Armenia and Russia held joint military exercises, which also prevented aggressive actions by both Turkey and Azerbaijan. An attempt to “copy” the Armenian-Russian event by Turkey and Azerbaijan, which started on July 29 throughout Azerbaijan, including Nakhichevan, looks frankly amusing. The threat of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry to launch a missile strike on the Metsamor nuclear power plant in Armenia deserves a separate mention. Such threats fall under the definition of international terrorism, which immediately caused a negative reaction on the head of the Azerbaijani military not only from a significant part of the world community, but also from their allies, the Turks. Later, Azerbaijani diplomats tried in every possible way to conceal such a serious mistake of their Ministry of Defense, but the corresponding sediment from the mentioned statement and questions to Baku still remain. Currently, the situation has relatively calmed down on all levels – from military to socio-political. However, some political changes in the region are likely to follow. So, after the aggressive actions of Azerbaijan and the statements of Turkey, some circles in the leadership of Egypt, which already has problems with the “Turkic world” in Libya, as well as Greece and Cyprus, began to lean towards supporting Armenia. In addition, the aggravation became a kind of test, on the one hand, of the Armenian-Russian military alliance and the CSTO, and on the other, of the Turkish-Azerbaijani military “brotherhood”. If the first and the last this check was generally passed, then the CSTO was not able to make a single anti-Azerbaijani statement in support of its ally, which is now viewed in Armenia very cautiously. The statements of some Russian politicians look even stranger. For example, Leonid Kalashnikov, chairman of the RF State Duma committee on the CIS, unexpectedly said that the CSTO … will never fight with Azerbaijan. Obviously, such words cannot work to resolve the conflict in the South Caucasus. As for the internal political situation in the conflicting countries, in Armenia the position of the already popular government of Pashinyan has become even more consolidated – the latter has shown itself not only as a fighter against internal enemies, but also as a successful supreme commander in chief, which is extremely important in a belligerent country. As far as Azerbaijan is concerned, the degradation of the Aliyev regime there, amid ever-increasing economic difficulties and the decline in the popularity of the authorities and the belief in them on the part of society, will continue, possibly bringing the country to a critical state. The lost “small victorious” war in this context will become another, very important, and possibly even fatal factor. Photo credit: Resul Rehimov – Anadolu Agency Author: Anton Evstratov  (Russian historian, publicist and journalist living in Armenia, lecturer at the Department of World History and Foreign Regional Studies at the Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan). (The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights). 

 

https://wgi.world/wi...for-azerbaijan/

[Yervant1]

Modern Diplomacy

Sept 4 2020

 

 

Opportunism and July’s Armenian-Azerbaijani Flareup

 

September 4, 2020

By David Davidian

 

 

By mid-July, within days of the latest flareup in fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a flurry of articles written by Azerbaijani think tank members appeared on Modern Diplomacy (MD). Azerbaijani think tanks may have erroneously assumed that MD was a media battlefield between Armenians and Azerbaijanis after a Geopolitical Handbook on Armenian issues was published a month earlier.

 

On August 2, 2020, MD published an article entitled The Treasure Map to the Forgotten Epoch of the Iravan Khanate, by Irina Tsukerman. The article uncritically adopts the most vulgar of Azerbaijani historical falsifications claiming that most of Armenia and its capital, Yerevan, have little or no Armenian lineage – and are instead Azerbaijani. The rambling nature of this four-thousand word article, and its spectacular disregard for the accepted historical record, seemed designed for the express purpose of appealing to Azerbaijanis and offending Armenians, for example by pointedly referring to the 2800-year-old Armenian capital city as Iravan, instead of Yerevan.

 

The thesis of Tsukerman’s article on MD dates back well over a generation. It parrots nationalist screeds, penned by Azerbaijani and sometimes Turkish propagandists, usually intended for local consumption. In recent years, many such works have been translated into reasonable English and evidently distributed for posting by western authors under their names. A common characteristic of these articles is their lack of hard references – a relic from the Soviet days. Tsukerman’s MD article appears to have been post-annotated with reference links before it was submitted to MD. Most of these links are of low quality and/or have little to do with the associated text. Forty-five of the fifty-three reference links were Wikipedia articles, gratuitously including general Wikipedia articles on Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, The Republic of Azerbaijan, Tehran, etc. Another reference points to a Turkish-language text that originally appeared in an anti-Armenian publication, Yeni Turkiye 62, which includes articles claiming Armenians committed genocide on Turks and Azerbaijanis – a claim widely known to be untrue, and similar in form, tactics and intent to Holocaust denial.

 

Within weeks of the apparent success of post-annotating an article in MD with useless reference links, Israel’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) published another anti-Armenian article of dubious integrity by Tsukerman, entitled “Russia and Iran’s Dangerous Energy Gambit in the Caucasus“. Due to a reader complaint noting the lack of any references and the article’s clear anti-Armenian bias, BESA initially took down the article, but then restored it the very next day, replete with ill-considered, low-quality references, not unlike those in Tsukerman’s MD article.

 

In my perhaps old-fashioned view, the provision of valid high-quality citations is a responsibility that every author should take seriously, and the verification of the quality of those citations is a responsibility that every editor should take seriously. Padding an article with useless and unhelpful citations pro forma, simply to be able to say that the article has citations, is the tactic of a college freshman – not one that I would expect to see in a scholarly publication. Evidently BESA operates according to a different set of standards.

 

This brings us to the larger question: Why do so many poorly referenced, factually inaccurate, anti-Armenian propaganda pieces appear in the world press? A short-term answer is that both the ruling family dictatorship in Azerbaijan, and the country’s supporting interests in the west need to bolster Azerbaijan’s image at home and abroad, especially after its significant military loss in the latest border flareup.

 

In the medium-term, one might note that the amount of western investment in Azerbaijani hydrocarbon extraction and transport is probably well over $100B, with British Petroleum accounting for $75B of that figure. Azerbaijan is also one of the few countries bordering Iran that is compliant enough to be used as a base for intelligence gathering and covert operations targeting Iran. Moreover, forty percent of Israel’s crude oil is supplied by Azerbaijan, and in return Israel has sold Azerbaijan at least $5B in high tech weaponry over the past decade. By contrast, Armenia has no viable petroleum reserves, and comparatively little with which to counter materially. Hence a much lower standard is set for the publication of Azerbaijani propaganda in the western press, and Azerbaijan is propped-up as a reliable partner to the Israeli public – this in spite of the fact that Azerbaijan is a Shia Muslim-majority country that refuses to open an embassy in Israel.

 

A rare glimpse at the longer-term answer can found in a September 2015 event where Israeli Knesset Members Oren Hazan and advisor Mendi Safadi visited Baku, Azerbaijan, for high-level meetings. During this visit, Safadi commented, “I’ve always been on the side of Azerbaijan, and we are ready to provide assistance and patronage to the Azerbaijani side to neutralize the influence of the Armenian lobby in the US Congress, the EU institutions, and international organizations.”

 

To this observer in Yerevan, it is manifest that Azerbaijan has enlisted help from certain actors in Israel and the Jewish diaspora in generating and promulgating pro-Azerbaijani propaganda, including anti-Armenian propaganda that falsifies the historical record and that is sometimes overtly racist in nature. Of course, with such an arrangement between two countries comes the opportunity for authors of a mercenary bent who are willing to lend their names to such falsifications. Since 2015, a large number of articles of this sort have appeared, for the most part in the Jewish press. Some writers have focused on the semi-frozen conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Others have attempted to characterize Armenia’s normal relations with Iran as in opposition to western-imposed sanctions, while neglecting to note that well over twice as much trade goes on between Azerbaijan and Iran. Still others characterize certain Armenian historical figures as fascist supporters of the Nazis during WWII, conveniently neglecting the fact that well over a quarter million Armenian soldiers never returned from fighting the Nazis, and that fact that Armenia was awarded twenty-four Israeli “Righteous Among Nation Awards, while Azerbaijan was awarded none.

 

Truth and open debate have little to do with this kind of industrial production of anti-Armenian propaganda. Opportunist writers posting such articles know very well the nature of the endeavor in which they are participating, yet they seem to feel that they can persist without regard to any cost to their reputations, as long as their hate speech is directed only against Armenians.

 

It is ironic that Jewish writers, many the progeny of Holocaust survivors, blindly support Azerbaijan’s government and its anti-Armenian policies, many of which are designed to create an external enemy in order to redirect popular anger away from a corrupt family dictatorship. The former mayor of Baku, who served between 2001 and 2018, Hajibala Abutalybov, in a 2005 meeting with a municipal delegation from Bavaria, Germany, stated,

 

“Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You, Nazis, already eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 40s, right? You should be able to understand us.”

 

Israelis and Jews everywhere certainly ought to be able to understand these words better than most, and they should be asking themselves if this is really an alignment for which they wish to be remembered in the fullness of the historical record.

 

 https://moderndiplom...aijani-flareup/

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

 

“Where's our common sense?” President reminds GMIS2020 Summit about Azerbaijani attack amid pandemic

 

 

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 14:28, 5 September, 2020
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Speaking at the 2020 Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS), Armenian President Armen Sarkissian reminded the participants about the Azerbaijani military attack on Armenia at times when both countries – and the entire world – were struggling to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sarkissian delivered the remarks during the Restoring Prosperity in a Post-Pandemic World online discussion on September 5.

The Armenian President spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic and his concerns at this phase when the world is undergoing changes. He noted that the concentration of people in big cities creates conditions for the rapid spread of the virus. He emphasized that the coronavirus is a consequence and not the reason of the changes happening around the world.

Video Player

 

 

 

“At times of uncertainties, if you lose your common sense for your human dignity or your humanity its very easy for you to become xenophobic, it’s very easy to blame others for your failures and I see now in this world problems that are occurring because we are in transition,” he said.

“Just recently while Armenia was fighting coronavirus and our neighbor Azerbaijan was fighting coronavirus, Azerbaijan started on the border with Armenia a military activity, and where is our common sense?” Sarkissian also spoke about Turkey’s destructive rhetoric during those days.

“That concerns me as an Armenian, as a President because it takes me back 105 years ago when the Armenian Genocide happened in the Ottoman Empire. And it gives me more concern because some Azeri officials were speaking about bombing the Armenian nuclear power plant, which is unheard of, because at the end of the day when you bomb a nuclear power plant it will hurt not only Armenia but it will hurt everybody, every neighbor we have around,” he said.

“My hope is that during this transition, we don’t lose our common sense,” the Armenian President added, stressing that the world needs to value what it had created before, and focus on the future.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

https://armenpress.a...WUeUS8LQlT1QXz4

[MosJan]

http://asbarez.com/1...Ovp7xFOhplzuaVk

 

Soldier Killed by Azerbaijani Forces in Armenia

An Armenian soldier was killed Wednesday from gunshot and shrapnel wounds in the latest Azerbaijani ceasefire violation and provocations at the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

Junior Sergeant Hovik Tamazyan sustained fatal injuries while on duty at a military position in the northeastern part of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that in recent days Azerbaijani forces have ramped up their activity in this part of the border and have been reinforcing border positions, which has led to the escalation.

“With the purpose of suppressing the enemy activity’s and preventing future escalations the Armenian Armed Forces elite units were forced to take appropriate countermeasures. As a result of the enemy’s provocation, Junior Sergeant Hovik Tamazyan sustained fatal gunshot and shrapnel wounds in the combat position of a military base in the northeastern section on September 16,” the defense ministry said, adding that an investigation has been launch to determine the details of the incident.

“The entire responsibly for this situation and the border escalation falls on Azerbaijan’s military-political leadership,” the defense ministry added.

After Tamazyan’s death was reported, Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister ordered all troops to maintain high combat readiness and be vigilant for attacks.

Hasanov told Azerbaijani troops to “immediately and decisively prevent the possible provocation of the Armenian Armed Forces in different directions.”

“The concerned reaction of the Azerbaijani Defense Minister after their own provocation was fully predictable,” Armenia’s defense spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan told Armenpress on Wednesday.

As usual, Azerbaijan’s top brass is spreading disinformation and attempting to put the blame on Armenia after their own provocation killed an Armenian soldier.

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

 

Azerbaijan preparing ground for attack: Egyptian analyst sees Turkey’s handwriting in it

 

 

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 11:46, 22 September, 2020

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan’s militaristic rhetoric, accusations against Armenia show that Baku is preparing a ground for an attack, Editor-in-chief of Realist Arabic news agency, analyst, Doctor Amr Eldiib told Armenpress, commenting on the latest regional developments.

“In order to start such actions Azerbaijan is preparing a respective ground by conducting anti-propaganda, spreading fake news as much as possible, for instance, the one according to which Armenia is bringing Kurds to Armenia and Artsakh. This is of course obvious fake news and is out of logic, no one would believe in it, however, by ensuring the respective field in the political platform Azerbaijan, in case of an attack, will already announce that it is protecting itself. Therefore, the Azerbaijani President’s such rhetoric, statement containing large number of accusations are leading to that”, the Egyptian analyst said, adding that information war is underway at this stage, but after that concrete actions in the border are not ruled out.

 

According to him, this entire process comes from Azerbaijan, but he says that here he obviously sees Turkey’s handwriting. Azerbaijan may go to escalation, supported by Turkey, which is trying to strengthen its positions in the region. The editor-in-chief of Realist Arabic says it’s not a coincidence that after the July military operations, escalation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, Azerbaijan and Turkey started holding joint military exercises. After that Turkey left a part of its military troops there. According to Amr Eldiib, Turkey is trying to strengthen its positions in Azerbaijan, and this means strengthening of positions in the Caucasus and the region.

“Obviously this is Turkey’s handwriting. Observing the last experience we see that Turkey has used the conflicts in different parts of the Middle East for strengthening its positions. Now it tries to do the same in the South Caucasus”, he added.

The analyst said that Turkey is also trying to solve another issue. In recent period Turkey’s actions at several directions in the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa and Middle East are not fully accepted by the international community.

“Currently Turkey is under strong pressures over the issues of the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean. Therefore, it’s not ruled out that Turkey may try to go to the Central Asia, Armenia, Azerbaijan in order to avoid these pressures. But I think that Turkey should not be provided with that opportunity”, he said. In this respect he highlighted uniting efforts with different countries. All countries, which feel a threat by Turkey, should be able to act jointly and jointly react to Turkey’s aggressive policy if necessary.

 

The analyst attached importance to the recent visit of Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan to Egypt, which also touched upon Turkey’s actions. He says Egypt and Armenia have a great potential to develop the relations not only in the political, but also in other fields. By using the friendly ties and opportunities between the two peoples it is necessary to boost the cooperation in other sectors as well. Amr Eldiib expressed hope that meetings of Armenian and Egyptian officials will take place soon.

Interview by Anna Gziryan

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 

 

https://armenpress.a...Ls0XaSIcR4Vd-Yk

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

Greek City Times

Sept 24 2020

 

 

 

Reports Turkey is transferring Syrian militants to Azerbaijan as hostilities against Armenia increases by Paul Antonopoulos

 

“The Armenian sides are in total control of the situation. We are confident in our capacities to protect Armenia and Artsakh, and ensure the security and rights of the Armenian people in their homeland,” an Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson exclusively told Greek City Times.

Credible reports have emerged that Turkey is transferring its militant proxies based in northern Syria to Azerbaijan as tensions and skirmishes with Armenia rapidly increase.

Award winning journalist Lindsey Snell, who was once kidnapped by Turkish-backed terrorists in northern Syria and then thrown into a Turkish jail for two months after her escape from Syria, wrote on Twitter that fighters from the Hamza Division had arrived in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku via Turkey.

From Hamza Division source. Supposedly these Hamza men arrived in Baku today via Ankara. pic.twitter.com/lgUcSl1Fkp

— Lindsey Snell (@LindseySnell) September 22, 2020

 

Earlier this year, the Hamza Division were exposed for holding naked and abused women in prison. They are made up mostly of Arabs and Turkmen, and have become a moveable proxy force for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

With the Libyan War escalating earlier this year, the Hamza Division were one of the main fighting groups transferred by Turkey to fight in the North African country on the side of the Muslim Brotherhood Government of National Accords whose United Nations mandate to rule over Libya expired in December 2017. The promise of a $2000 monthly wage was to much of a temptation for many of the Syrian jihadists, however, as Adnan, a leader of Hamza division, said in June, “Now we regret coming. The price we paid is high.”

When asked on Twitter whether most of the fighters going to Azerbaijan are coming from Syria or Libya, Snell revealed they are mostly coming from Syria but that around 70 militants had also been in Libya.

Syria. Though around 70 of these men were in Libya until recently.

— Lindsey Snell (@LindseySnell) September 22, 2020

 

Snell also uploaded a voice recording of a militant claiming that up to 1,000 fighters will be transferred to Azerbaijan.

Recording claims 1000 TFSA will be sent to Azerbaijan between the 27th and 30th. I've also heard from multiple sources that some are already there. pic.twitter.com/sman56Swfb

— Lindsey Snell (@LindseySnell) September 21, 2020

 

Kevork Almassian, founder of Syriana Analysis and a Syrian-born Armenian whose brother was once kidnapped by Turkish-backed jihadists, also reported that Syrian opposition sources revealed that jihadists are being offered a $600 a month salary to fight with Azerbaijan against Armenia.

According to Syrian opposition sources, #Turkey will send next Wednesday the first batch of Syrian mercenaries (the former Free Army) to #Azerbaijan to participate in the battles against #Armenia, with a salary of $ 600 per month.

— Kevork Almassian (@KevorkAlmassian) September 21, 2020

 

However, when asked by Greek City Times about reports that Turkey is transferring Hamza Division militants from Syria to Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs flatly denied the accusations.

“The allegations are groundless and completely misleading. Recently, we observed in some foreign media a slanderous campaign against Azerbaijan, spreading absolutely groundless and fake information in this regard,” an Azerbaijani spokesperson told Greek City Times.

Rather, the Azerbaijani Foreign ministry spokesperson told Greek City Times that Armenia is “behind this fake campaign.”

“It is nothing else but desperate attempts by Armenia to divert the attention of the international community, while facing a mobilization and planning problem to recruit armed groups on a voluntary basis, including foreign mercenaries. There is no doubt that Armenia, which has recruited mercenaries and terrorists from the Middle East as part of its aggressive policy against Azerbaijan, is behind this fake campaign,” the spokesperson said.

Although Baku says that the claims that Syrian jihadists are being transferred to Azerbaijan is a “fake campaign” orchestrated by Armenia, the sources used by Snell and Almassian are from the so-called “Syrian National Army” that are armed, trained and backed by Turkey.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at loggerheads with each other over the territory of Artsakh, or more commonly known as Nagorno-Karabakh, since the Soviet Union begun collapsing in the late 1980’s.

As acting Commissar of Nationalities for the Soviet Union in the early 1920’s, Joseph Stalin made the decision that the Armenian-majority region of Artsakh would be under the administration of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic instead of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Although Stalin promised Artsakh to the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, he ultimately granted the region to the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, albeit with autonomy. This served two purposes – a continuation of the the Soviet divide-and-rule strategy in the Caucasus, and a hope to turn Turkey into a socialist state by appeasing their Azeri Turkish kin.

The collapse of the Soviet Union, which resulted in the creation of 15 new countries including Armenia and Azerbaijan, created chaos throughout the Caucasus as wars broke out as a result of Stalin’s artificial borders that left ethnic groups detached from their kin.

In 1921, it was estimated that Artsakh was 94% Armenian. According to the 1989 census, Artsakh’s population was approximately 75% ethnic Armenian (145,000) and 25% ethnic Azeri (40,688). Although there was a significant increase in the Azeri population in Artsakh in the 20th Century, former Soviet Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, father of current dictator Ilham Aliyev, revealed why this occurred in 2002.

He states:

“I tried to change demographics there. Nagorno-Karabakh petitioned for the opening of an institute of higher education there. [In Azerbaijan] everybody was against it. After deliberations I decided to open one, but on condition that there would be three sectors — Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian. After [the institute] opened we no longer sent Azerbaijanis from the neighboring regions to Baku [and] instead [sent them] there. With these and other measures I tried to increase the number of Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh and the number of Armenians decreased.”

Despite these efforts of systematic demographic change, Artsakh today is 95% ethnic Armenian.

The collapse of the Soviet Union unsurprisingly led to the Artsakh War, which ended in a ceasefire on May 12, 1994 after a decisive Armenian victory led to a de facto independence for Artsakh, albeit unrecognized by no state, including Armenia, but being almost entirely reliant on Yerevan.

Skirmishes have been commonplace since 1994, with serious escalations in April 2016 and July this year when Azerbaijan launched an attack on Armenia’s northeast Tavush province. Although Azerbaijan’s defense budget is $2.267 billion, about five times larger than Armenia’s, the July clashes proved costly with 21 soldiers killed, 13 UAV’s downed and three tanks destroyed to Armenia’s five soldiers and two police officers killed in action.

An Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Greek City Times that the July clashes were a result of a “massive miscalculation by Azerbaijan.”

“The main reason for sparking this escalation was a massive miscalculation by Azerbaijan that thought the use of force and a maximalist stance can produce desirable results for them on the ground and bring a resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The July battles clearly showed the total failure of this policy by Azerbaijan to the extent that Azerbaijan, who were openly portraying itself as a dominating military force, began seeking politico-military assistance from the outside force of the region,” Anna Naghdalyan, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, told Greek City Times.

When asked about the transfer of Turkish-backed Syrian militants to Azerbaijan, the spokeswoman said “transnational threats, including that of movement or transfer of foreign terrorist fighters to conflict areas are of great concern, they are deplorable and they should be addressed.”

“As Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan stated during his official visit to Egypt, we are getting reports about the use of the foreign terrorist fighters to be transferred to Azerbaijan or maybe they are already transferred. Given the precedents of the use of extremists by Azerbaijan back in 1992-93 and the exportation of terrorist elements to different regions by Turkey, we take such a threat very seriously,” she added.

During the Artsakh War, Azerbaijan recruited an assortment of foreign jihadists and Turkish ultra-nationalists like leftover mujahedeen from Afghanistan that fought the Soviet Union in the 1970’s and 1980’s, Chechen and other North Caucasian jihadists, and Turkish Far-Right Grey Wolves terrorists.

Although the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry also claimed that it is Armenia who recruits “foreign mercenaries,” the example they use is Monte Melkonian, a California-born revolutionary and academic who descended from Armenian Genocide survivors

“The name of Monte Melkonian, leader of the ASALA terrorist organization in Lebanon, who participated in the occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and has been glorified later by the Government of Armenia, is a vivid example of the policy of recruiting terrorist mercenaries by Armenia,” the Azerbaijani spokesperson told Greek City Times.

Melkonian, who was declared a National Hero of Armenia in 1996, believed that if Artsakh was lost, the Armenians would “turn the final page of our people’s history.”

In another move by the Soviet Union to appease Turkey in the hope it would become a Soviet Socialist state, the historically Armenian region of Nakhchivan was gifted to Azerbaijan after Moscow and Turkey signed the Treaty of Kars in 1921, creating the unusual borders that exist today.

Melkonian believed that if the Armenians lost Artsakh to Azerbaijan, they would next lose Syunik Province, the thin strip of land separating Artsakh and Nakhchivan. This would not only give Turkey direct access to the oil and gas rich Caspian Sea at the expense of historically Armenian territory, but it could have also led to a union between Turkey and Azerbaijan as millions of nationalists in their respective countries want.

The Turks and Azeris, as linguistic and cultural kin, do not hide away from their close knit relations.

At the beginning of this month, Aliyev told the newly appointed Greek ambassador to Azerbaijan, Nikolaos Piperigos, that “we support them [Turkey] on all issues, including the issue of intelligence in the Eastern Mediterranean.”.

“I can tell you, and it is no secret, that Turkey is not only our friend and partner, but also a brotherly country for us. Without any hesitation whatsoever, we support Turkey and will support it under any circumstances,” the Azerbaijani dictator added.

Erdoğan in a joint speech in 2010 with his Azeri counterpart stated that “Turkish-Azerbaijani cooperation is based not only on strong solidarity between our states, but also on common history and unity of our hearts. Turkish and Azerbaijani people speak the same language, have common history. Our relations built on this sound foundation and strengthening on the basis of the ‘one nation, two states’ principle.”

This brotherly sentiment was continued by Aliyev after Erdoğan, saying that “we are also paying tribute to the great son of the Turkic world, outstanding leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who will always live in the hearts of Azerbaijani people.”

Just weeks after this years clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey conducted a 13-day joint military exercise with their Azeri kin in a show of force against Armenia.

When asked by Greek City Times about the military situation in Armenia, Naghdalyan said “the Armenian sides are in total control of the situation. We are confident in our capacities to protect Armenia and Artsakh, ensure the security and rights of the Armenian people in their homeland.”

“And it’s with this full confidence that we underline – there is no alternative to the strictly peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict – the military solution is totally ruled out,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added.

Although Baku denies Syrian jihadists are being relocated by Turkey to its territory, it must be considered that Ankara openly announced that they transferred Syrian fighters to Libya, the Azerbaijani’s have undoubtedly used jihadists in the first Artsakh war, and most reports of Syrian fighters being transferred to Azerbaijan are coming from the Turkish-backed militants themselves.

Snell also added on Twitter that the brother of a Hamza terrorist told her that another batch of Syrian jihadists were in transit to Azerbaijan.

And the brother of a Hamza militant told me another batch is already in transit last night. And one of the brigades from the 3rd Corps issued a statement refusing to send fighters. https://t.co/1gQpXIyMQN

— Lindsey Snell (@LindseySnell) September 24, 2020

 

The spokespersons of both Armenia and Azerbaijan emphasized to Greek City Times that they want to resolve their disputes peacefully and through negotiations. However, this appears to be unlikely with Turkey conducting a show of military might against Armenia so shortly after the July clashes and as it gears up transfers of Syrian militants to Azerbaijan according to militants themselves.

Aliyev said only days ago that Azerbaijan and Turkey conduct military exercises every year and that “there is nothing unusual here.”

“Yes, this time it coincided with the [July] Tovuz incident. Armenia should think about whether it was coincidence or not. These drills once again demonstrate our unity. There are only 80 kilometers (49 miles) between the Azerbaijan-Armenia border in Nakhchivan and Yerevan. Armenia knows it, and this intimidates them. I think that they stress out because of this fear,” he said provocatively.

The distance between Nakhchivan and Artsakh is even less than that of Nakhchivan to Yerevan. If Aliyev is already making indirect threats to the Armenian capital, then there would be little doubt that he would also be eyeing Syunik Province that Melkonian had desperately defended by fighting and dying in Artsakh.

Will Turkish-backed Syrian jihadists be used to not only take Artsakh, but also Syunik Province?

 

 

 

 

https://greekcitytim...enia-increases/

[Yervant1]

AMN - Al-Masdar News

Sept 24 2020

 

 

 

Turkey transported over 300 Syrian rebels to Azerbaijan: monitor

 

By News Desk -2020-09-24

 

BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:00 P.M.) – Hundreds of Syrian rebels were transported from Turkey to Azerbaijan this week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Thursday.

 

Citing reliable sources, SOHR said the Turkish government “transported over 300 fighters of the Turkish-backed Syrian factions” to Azerbaijan, pointing out that most of the fighters were previously living in the Afrin region of northwestern Aleppo.

 

Furthermore, the monitor said that most of these fighters were members of the Sultan Murad Brigade and Al-Amshat faction, which were based in northwestern Syria.

 

“The fighters themselves have said that they are taken to Azerbaijan in order to guard the state’s border in return for salaries of 1,500 to 2,000 USD,” they said.

 

The Turkish-backed factions have not issued any statement regarding the alleged deployment; however, rumors began to surface in August of a potential deployment of these Syrian fighters to Azerbaijan, especially after clashes between the Azerbaijani and Armenian forces.

 

Turkey, who is a close ally to Azerabaijan, has previously sent Syrian fighters to Libya in order to help the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) forces in their fight against the Libyan National Army (LNA).

 

 https://www.almasdar...baijan-monitor/

[MosJan]

Կոչ եմ անում վստահել միայն պաշտոնական աղբյուրներին․ Փաշինյան
Սիրելի ժողովուրդ, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության հպարտ քաղաքացիներ,
Արցախի Հանրապետության հպարտ քաղաքացիներ,
Սփյուռքի հպարտ հայություն, գրել է վարչապետը Ֆեյսբուքի իր էջում։

Հակառակորդը Արցախի ուղղությամբ հարձակում է սկսել։ Պաշտպանության բանակը հաջողությամբ դիմակայում է հարձակմանը։ Իրավիճակը օպերատիվ զարգացման մեջ է, տեղեկությունները ըստ անհրաժեշտության կամփոփվեն եւ կհաղորդվեն։

Կոչ եմ անում վստահել միայն պաշտոնական աղբյուրներին և զգոն լինել թշնամական տեղեկատվական հոսանքներին տրվելուց։

Ամուր կանգենք մեր պետության, մեր բանակի թիկունքին՝ մեր սուրբ հայրենիքի պաշտպանության դիրքերում։ Ու մենք կհաղթենք։
 

https://www.1lurer.a...pU8LvuihgCAoBSo

Կեցցե՜ հայոց փառապանծ բանակը։ Կեցցե՜ հայոց պետականությունը։ Կեցցե՜ հայ ժողովուրդը։

[MosJan]

https://www.panarmen...ng/news/285526/

 

Karabakh destroys three Azerbaijani tanks on contact line
Karabakh destroys three Azerbaijani tanks on contact line
September 27, 2020 - 09:52 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The Azerbaijani side has lost manpower and military equipment, including three tanks, in the course of a military offensive it launched against Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said on Sunday, September 27 morning.

Her comments came after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan revealed that Azerbaijan has launched an attack on Karabakh.

Stepanyan said fighting is going on.

Stepanyan said earlier that the Karabakh army has downed two helicopters and three drones of the Azerbaijani army.

According to the spokesperson, the Azerbaijani military has launched an air and missile attack on Artsakh.

Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan has already briefed Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office, on the situation along the Karabakh contact line.

Karabakh President’s spokesperson Vahram Poghosyan has said the Azerbaijani military has been shelling the civilian settlements of Karabakh, including the capital Stepanakert.

[MosJan]

Azerbaijan admits loss of one helicopter in Karabakh
Azerbaijan admits loss of one helicopter in Karabakh
September 27, 2020 - 10:02 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has admitted the loss of one helicopter on the Nagorno-Karabakh contact line on Sunday, September 27.

Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said earlier, however, that the Karabakh army has downed two helicopters and three drones, and destroyed three tanks of the Azerbaijani army.

Her comments came after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan revealed that Azerbaijan has launched an attack on Karabakh.

Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan has already briefed Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office, on the situation along the Karabakh contact line.

Karabakh President’s spokesperson Vahram Poghosyan has said the Azerbaijani military has been shelling the civilian settlements of Karabakh, including the capital Stepanakert.

 

https://www.panarmen...ng/news/285531/

[MosJan]

https://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/285524/ 

 

Azerbaijan shelling Karabakh’s capital, civilian settlements
Azerbaijan shelling Karabakh’s capital, civilian settlements
September 27, 2020 - 09:04 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The Azerbaijani military has been shelling the civilian settlements of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), including the capital Stepanakert, spokesperson for the Karabakh President Vahram Poghosyan said Sunday, September 27 morning.

Poghosyan’s comments came after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan revealed that Azerbaijan has launched an attack on Karabakh.

The spokesman urged the public to find shelters and not leave their homes as the shelling continues.

“At the same time, we declare that we will retaliate proportionately, "the entire responsibility for the situation rests with the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan, personally with [President] Ilham Aliyev."

Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said earlier that the Karabakh army has downed two helicopters and three drones of the Azerbaijani army.

Stepanyan said the Azerbaijani military has launched an air and missile attack on Artsakh.

[Yervant1]

Jerusalem Post

Sept 26 2020

 

 

Is Turkey planning to recruit Syrians to fight Armenia?

 

Turkey has upped its rhetoric against Armenia in recent days, threatening the country and claiming Armenia is “playing with fire” and alleging Armenia has recruited “terrorists.”

 

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN  

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020 19:29

 

Several hundred Syrian refugees have been recruited by Turkey to fight against Armenia in the disputed Karabagh region, according to claims by Syrian commentators, activists and other reports. The claims were posted on social media this week and circulated among Syrian refugees, dissidents and others who monitor Syria.

 

Turkish and Greek media also helped fuel the rumors. Turkey has upped its rhetoric against Armenia in recent days, threatening the country, claiming that it is “playing with fire” and alleging that Armenia has recruited “terrorists.” The new rhetoric appears to be a way for Ankara to justify a new crisis and involvement in the Caucasus, potentially recruiting Syrians as it has done to fight its recent war in Libya.

 

Turkey has been recruiting Syrian rebels for years as a way to co-opt the Syrian rebellion and turn it into an instrument of Turkish foreign policy. Initially under the banner of Turkish-backed groups such as Faylaq al-Sham and later as the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army and Syrian National Army, Turkey cobbled together thousands of poor Syrians to fight in Jarabulus in 2016. Later Turkey sent tens of thousands of Syrians to fight against Kurdish Syrians in Afrin as a way to divide and conquer northern Syria.

 

Ankara encouraged extremism among its mostly Arab and Turkmen recruits to target Kurdish, Yazidi and Christian minorities in northern Syria between 2018 and 2019. Then Turkey took the Syrians and sent them to fight in Libya as Ankara’s leading party signed a deal with the embattled Tripoli-based government to acquire energy and military base rights.  

 

Now Turkey’s ruling party, which thrives on creating a new international crisis every month, may be targeting Armenia. Turkey created other crises this year: in Idlib in February and March and then in Libya in April and May, then bombing Iraq in June and July and shifting to threaten Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean in August and September. Meanwhile Ankara has pledged to support Azerbaijan in recent clashes with Armenia.  

 

A Syrian source provided photos and video of buses allegedly with Syrian mercenaries recruited by Turkey being sent towards Armenia on Wednesday, September 23. Majd Helobi, a Kurdish reporter provided photos and information detailing the allegations. Allegations include assertions that these Syrians recruited by Ankara are linked to those who carried out crimes in Turkish-occupied Afrin and Tel Abyad. The UN recently accused Turkey and Turkish-backed groups of rape and looting in occupied areas of northern Syria. A US Lead Inspector General Report also accused Turkish-backed groups in Libya of similar crimes. “They are brainwashed and making war crimes,” the Syrian source says. According to the report, there was a group of cars and buses with 200 “mercenaries” linked to the Sultan Murad group. A recording posted online included Syrian recruits alleging they were sent to a base near the border with Armenia.  

 

The report alleges that the men who join will be paid 500 dollars a month, more for officers. This appears similar to arrangements made to pay thousands of poverty-stricken Syrians who Turkey recruited and illegally sent to Libya. The Guardian claimed 2,000 Syrians were already fighting in Libya in January. Some later claimed they were not paid on time and sought to find a way to leave.

 

Recruiting Syrians to fight Kurds and then to fight in Libya and now perhaps to fight Armenia may be a way for Turkey to distract them from the fact that it is working with Iran and Russia, who support the Assad regime that the Syrian rebels wanted to fight.

 

Turkey’s regime has posed as a protector of Muslims and used terminology to make it appears it is fighting an “Islamic” cause against Greece, Israel and also in Libya and Syria. For instance, the fanfare of turning Hagia Sophia into a mosque in July was part of this motif.

 

Alongside the use of the mercenaries, Turkey’s paramilitary contractor Sadat has gained more prominence. This appears to be Ankara’s way of replicating what Russia did with groups such as Wagner or what Iran has done with the Quds force of the IRGC, creating a way to export Ankara’s revolution by recruiting others to do the fighting rather than the Turkey's own military.

 

Ankara has kept the Turkish military busy since an attempted 2016 coup. That is also part of the reason for the monthly crises. The invasion of Jarabulus and then Idlib, Afrin and Tel Abyad, and new tensions at sea and then on the Greece border, as well as the Libya deployment of drones and special forces, was all part of this.

 

In late July Turkey’s defense minister vowed to “avenge” Azeri soldiers killed in clashes with Armenia. This was part of the rising rhetoric of Ankara about possible involvement in Armenia.

 

Like talk of Turkey taking over areas of northern Iraq and Idlib, this appears to be about reviving claims from the Ottoman era. Turkey has often made historical claims to back its involvement. For instance it claimed that there are “Turks” in Libya to justify involvement. This is a multi-layered approach then: with history, religion, mercenaries, government-connected contractors, the need to keep the army occupied, the need for crises to distract from economic failure at home, and the need to distract Syrians from Turkey’s sellout to Russia and Iran - all combined into a policy sandwich.

 

Has that sandwich now begun to contemplate involvement in Armenia and other conflicts? Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Armenia to stop its “aggression” against Azerbaijan on September 22. He said Ankara was standing side-by-side with Azerbaijan and “wished Allah’s mercy” on recently fallen soldiers.

 

This is part of Ankara’s language to make the conflict into a religious issue, just as it did to convince Syrians to fight Kurds under the banner of “Islam” against “atheists” and “kuffar.” Turkey’s Defense Ministry has said Armenia is “playing with fire” and that it was “unlawfully occupying Nagorno-Karabakh.”

 

This lays the groundwork for a potential Turkish military involvement Ankara’s ruling party has operationalized its pro-government media. Ankara has imprisoned almost all critical journalists in Turkey and continued to arrest critics daily so as to totally control the media and use it to telegraph its plans.

 

On September 25, Daily Sabah wrote that “Armenia transfers YPG/PKK terrorists to occupied area to train militias against Azerbaijan.” This headline was meant to create the justification for Turkey to claim its “security” is being threatened by the “PKK” and that it can invade. Turkey has used this excuse to bomb and invade northern Iraq and Syria, always claiming there are "terrorists" that it is “neutralizing.”

Turkey has presented no evidence of any terror attacks from Syria to justify its invasion and illegal occupation. However it got NATO, of which it is a member, to claim it has a right to protect its security. There is no evidence of the “PKK” in Armenia, but Turkey invented this claim to justify its own transfer of militias.  

 

More evidence that Turkey is trying to use Syrians for a new mission emerged on Friday as sources provided names and images of “FSA soldiers” being trained to be sent to fight Armenia. Social media users who follow Syria also tweeted about the “confirmed information about the first group from the Syrian opposition fighters” who had arrived on Wednesday. It was unclear where they had arrived.

There was pushback on the tweets, with some claiming the stories are “Russia propaganda” and that there is little evidence of the transfers. However others pointed to a photo of a Syrian rebel flag being flown in a mountainous area as “evidence” that the men were being sent to the east, away from Syria and toward the Caucasus.  

 

The rumors of increased Turkish involvement in Armenia-Azerbaijan tensions may be a way for Turkey to distract from economic problems at home and a way to recruit more impoverished Syrian refugees under the banner of a religious conflict against “terrorists” to stoke the flames of nationalism and extremism that Turkey’s ruling party thrives on.  

 

One issue for Turkey is that the more countries it bombs, threatens and invades, the more it creates a bloc that is stepping up to oppose the endless aggression, crises and threats. For instance, in the Mediterranean the threats from Ankara drove Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, France and the UAE to work more closely together. Invasion and ethnic cleansing in Afrin led some to assert that Ankara was as great a threat as Assad and has bolstered the Russia and Iranian-backed Assad regime. It’s unclear if an Ankara decision to become involved in the Caucasus would similarly fuel new alliances.  

 https://www.jpost.co...-armenia-643628

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

 

Azerbaijan bombarding Artsakh’s civilian settlements, including Stepanakert city

 

 

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 08:33, 27 September, 2020

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani military has launched a massive cross-border artillery attack on Artsakh, including on civilian settlements.

“Today early morning the adversary began active artillery attacks at the entire length of the line of contact,” Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan’s spokesperson Vahram Poghosyan said.

 

“Peaceful settlements are also under bombardment, including the capital city of Stepanakert. We advise the population to seek shelter. At the same time, we announce that our response will be proportionate and the entire responsibility of the situation falls on Azerbaijan’s military-political leadership and personally Ilham Aliyev,” he said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

https://armenpress.a...GPXvMykahDH-_Ig

[Yervant1]

Cowards only attack civilian targets!

 

 

Large-Scale Fighting Breaks Out Around Karabakh

27 September 2020

Nagorno-Karabakh - An Armenian soldier shoots during a military exercise, 20Nov2015.

Heavy fighting broke out around Nagorno-Karabakh early on Sunday, with Armenia accusing Azerbaijan of launching a large-scale offensive and shelling Karabakh’s capital Stepanakert and other settlements.

“The Defense Army [of Nagorno-Karabakh] is successfully repelling the attack,” Armenian Prime Minister Pashinian wrote in a Facebook post. He urged Armenians to trust only official sources and stay vigilant against “giving in to hostile information flows.”

“The enemy has launched an air and missile attack in the direction of Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Shushan Stepanian, a spokesman for Armenia’s Defense Ministry.

“Azerbaijani forces’ offensives in several directions have been repelled,” Stepanian wrote on Facebook later in the morning. She said Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army side has destroyed three Azerbaijani tanks and shot down “two enemy helicopters and three unmanned aerial vehicles.”

Vahram Poghosian, a spokesman for Karabakh President Ara Harutiunian, likewise accused the Azerbaijani army of starting “active shelling along the entire line of contact.” “Civilian areas are also being shelled, including the capital Stepanakert. We call on the population to take shelter,” he said.

At the same time, Poghosian stressed that “the response will be proportionate, entire responsibility for the situation lies with the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan and personally with [Azerbaijani] President Ilham Aliyev.”

Shortly afterwards a uniform-clad Harutiunian met in Stepanakert with a group of Karabakh army reservists and volunteers. “They’ve declared war? They’ll get a war,” the Karabakh leader told them in televised remarks.

Harutiunian went on to declare martial law and a general mobilization of army reservists.

Karabakh television showed a column tanks, artillery systems and trucks carrying soldiers moving through a local town towards a nearby section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani “line of contact” around Karabakh.

According to Stepanian, thousands of volunteers across Armenia are visiting recruitment centers and expressing a desire to join the armed forces. “While highly appreciating the readiness of our compatriots, the Armenian Defense Ministry declares that there is no need for volunteers at the moment,” said the official.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said, meanwhile, that its frontline troops have launched a “counteroffensive operation along the entire frontline” in response to Armenian shelling of Azerbaijani towns of villages. It admitted losing one helicopter in the fighting.

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications confirmed reports that it has “restricted” Azerbaijanis’ access to the Internet. According to the APA news agency, the ministry cited the need to to prevent “large-scale Armenian provocations.”

The Karabakh Armenian army reported at around 11 a.m. local time that Azerbaijani troops backed by tanks, artillery and attack drones are continuing to attack its positions at “various sections of the frontline.” “The Defense Army’s frontline units are successfully repelling all enemy attacks,” it said in a statement.

Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman, Artak Beglarian, said at that at least two Karabakh Armenian civilians, a woman and a child, have been killed by Azerbaijani shelling of their homes. “There is large-scale damage to civilian infrastructure in many settlements,” Beglarian wrote on Facebook.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani governments blamed each other for what appears to be the worst escalation of the Karabakh conflict in years. The Armenian Foreign Ministry said Baku will bear full responsibility for the “aggression unleashed by it.”

 

 

https://www.azatutyu...qdn2JgXDmVQUfwk

 

 

[Yervant1]

EuroNews, EU

Sept 27 2020

 

 

 

Azerbaijan, Armenia, trade blows over Nagorno-Karabakh

 

 

AP

 

Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out Sunday around the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian Defense Ministry said two Azerbaijani helicopters were shot down.

Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan also said Armenian forces hit three Azerbaijani tanks.

Nagorno-Karabakh is an ethnically Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan that has been out of Azerbaijan’s control since the end of a war in 1994. Both sides have heavy military presence along a demilitarized zone separating the region from the rest of Azerbaijan.

Stepanyan said the fighting Sunday began with an Azerbaijani attack, but Azerbaijan said the Armenian side attacked and that Azerbaijan launched a counteroffensive.

The news was harshly received in Turkey.

Turkey’s ruling party spokesman Omer Celik tweeted: “We vehemently condemn Armenia’s attack on Azerbaijan. Armenia has once against committed a provocation, ignoring law.” He promised Turkey would stand by Azerbaijan and said, “Armenia is playing with fire and endangering regional peace.”

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin also took to Twitter, condemning Armenia. “Armenia has violated the ceasefire by attacking civilian settlements ... the international community must immediately say stop to this dangerous provocation.”

https://www.euronews...H3Ktjo7nvyrErI4

[Yervant1]

The Independent, UK
Sept 27 2020

 

 

Armenia orders civilians to shelter after Azerbaijan bombs disputed region  

Azerbaijani helicopter was downed but crew survived, according to Defence Ministry

Sam Hancock

 

Armenia has told civilians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region to take shelter after Azerbaijan launched a bombing attack on the disputed region in the early hours of Sunday morning.  

At least one Azerbaijani helicopter and multiple drones were downed by Armenian military, according to the country’s Defence Ministry, which said the ambush began at GMT 4.10am against civilian settlements, including the regional capital of Stepanakert. 

 

All crew members of the shot down helicopter survived, according to Armenian military officials. 

"Our response will be proportionate and the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for the situation", the Armenian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

 

 

Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry, in response, said it had launched a military operation along the "contact line," a heavily-mined no-man's-land that separates the Armenian-backed forces from Azeri troops in the region, Russian news agencies reported.

The two former Soviet countries have been in conflict for almost three decades over Azerbaijan's breakaway, mainly the ethnic-Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, and border clashes have intensified in recent months.

Armenia's Foreign Ministry condemned the "aggression of the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan" and said the Armenian side would deliver an apt military and political response.

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence posted on its official website, at GMT 9.10am on Sunday morning, to say: “Our troops have launched a counter-offensive along the entire front.” The post continued: 

"In order to prevent the combat activity of the Armenian armed forces and ensure the security of the civilian population, the command of the Azerbaijani Army has decided to launch a counter-offensive along the entire front.

"Our personnel and tank units, with the support of missile and artillery units, frontline aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles, detect and destroy a large number of Armenian forces, military facilities and military equipment located on the front line and in the depths of defense.

 

"According to the information received, 12 OSA anti-aircraft missile systems of the Armenian air defense units were destroyed in different directions. A combat helicopter of the Azerbaijani Air Force was shot down in the direction of Tartar, the crew members are alive.

“The rapid counter-offensive of our troops continues.”

The conflict comes after an August report by The Independent  which revealed that both regions were engaged in a deadly arms race, with each publicly admitting to purchasing £39m-a-piece Russian Su-30SM fighter jets. 

 

Artak Beglaryan, a human rights Ombudsman in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, tweeted about the attack, citing multiple deaths and injuries. “A woman and child were killed,” Mr Beglaryan wrote, before adding: “Some schools have also been targeted. There are other civilian casualties too.”

 

https://www.independ...sh-b640984.html

 

[Yervant1]

Deutsche Welle Germany

Sept 27 2020

 

 

 

Nagorno-Karabakh declares martial law as violence erupts

 

Fighting has erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan around the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Both sides have blamed each other; the Armenian Defense Ministry said two Azerbaijani helicopters were shot down.

Armenia and Azerbaijan on Sunday accused each other of reigniting their decadeslong conflict in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh after fresh violence erupted in the breakaway region.

Armenia's Defense Ministry said its military shot down two Azerbaijan military helicopters after an Azerbaijani bombing campaign against civilian targets. It added that three of its adversary's tanks had also been hit.

"The entire responsibility for this lies with the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan," insisted an Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson.

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, accused Armenian forces of launching  "deliberate and targeted" attacks on Nagorno-Karabakh.

"There are reports of dead and wounded among civilians and military servicemen," Azerbaijan's president said.

The country's Defense Ministry denied the claim that its helicopters and tanks had been hit and said it was conducting a counteroffensive on the front line.

Read more: Azerbaijan police detain opposition protesters

Martial law announced

Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh said the city of Stepanakert has been shelled and urged residents to get to safety. Numerous houses in villages have been destroyed, with injuries reported. 

The breakaway region immediately declared "martial law and total military mobilization," Karabakh's president Araik Harutyunyan told an emergency parliament session. He said that those liable for military service had been called up for duty.

The news was harshly received in Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan. Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin took to Twitter, saying: "Armenia has violated the ceasefire by attacking civilian settlements ... the international community must immediately say stop to this dangerous provocation."

Russia, meanwhile, called for the fighting to stop immediately. "We are calling on the sides to immediately halt fire and begin talks to stabilize the situation," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Sunday's clashes represent the first major outbreak of violence since 2016 between the two neighbors over Azerbaijan’s breakaway, mainly ethnic Armenian region in the southern Caucasus.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been involved in a dispute since the fall of the Soviet Union and had engaged in border conflicts earlier this year.

Read more: Angela Merkel in Azerbaijan calls for peace with Armenia

Tensions heightened

Violence first erupted in the region when ethnic Armenians seized Karabakh from Azerbaijan in the 1990s. 30,000 people were killed during the war.

A ceasefire, that was signed in 1994, largely put an end to the full-scale conflict, however, peace talks mediated by France, Russia and the United States collapsed in 2010.

Azerbaijan has made repeated threats to take back the region by force. Although the region declared independence, it is heavily reliant on Armenian support and Armenia has stated that it would defend the territory militarily.

ab/mm (AFP, Reuters)

 

 

https://www.dw.com/e...upts/a-55068321

[Yervant1]

France 24

Sept 27 2020

 

 

Tensions flare between Azerbaijan, Armenia in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region

 

 

Tensions flared between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Sunday over clashes in which Yerevan said Azeri forces shelled the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Baku accused Armenian forces of targeting Azeri military and civilian positions.

   

 The Nagorno-Karabakh region introduced martial law and the total mobilisation of its male population in response to the fighting.

Casualties were unclear but Armenia's defence ministry said an unspecified number of civilians had been killed by Azerbaijan's forces.

The two countries have long been at odds over Azerbaijan’s breakaway, mainly ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh which declared independence during a conflict that broke out as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Though a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia frequently accuse each other of attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the separate Azeri-Armenian frontier.

Armenia's defence ministry said its troops had destroyed three tanks and shot down two helicopters and three unmanned aerial vehicles in response to an attack on civilian targets including the regional capital of Stepanakert.

"Our response will be proportionate, and the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for the situation," the ministry said in a statement.

The Armenian foreign ministry also said there would be an "appropriate military and political response".

"We stay strong next to our army to protect our motherland from Azeri invasion," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Twitter.

Azerbaijan denied the Armenian defence ministry statement, saying it had "complete advantage over the enemy on the front." Hikmet Hajiyev, senior adviser to Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, accused Armenian forces of launching "deliberate and targeted" attacks along the front line.

Azerbaijan's defence ministry said Armenia had attacked civilian settlements and military positions along the "contact line"," a heavily-mined no-man's-land that separates the Armenian-backed forces from Azeri troops in the region.

It said some civilians had been killed "as a result of the intensive shelling" by Armenia, and that Azerbaijan had taken retaliatory measures.

It said Azerbaijan's army launched a "counter-offensive operation along the entire front to suppress the combat activity of the armed forces of Armenia and ensure the safety of the civilian population".

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

 

 

https://www.france24...karabakh-region