Nagorno Karabakh -=- ARTSAKH

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[MosJan]

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

The American Enterprise Institute

May 1 2023

Are US-Brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Talks Dead on Arrival?

By Michael Rubin

AEIdeas

May 01, 2023

The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War upended the decades-long Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process. The hot take at the time was that Russia and Turkey were the victors. Both the United States and France, co-chairs with Russia in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, were caught off guard. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, had initiated the ceasefire and crafted it to insert 2,000 Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey also inserted troops as monitors in Azerbaijan.

Russian peacekeepers have shown themselves to be impotent as Azerbaijan flagrantly violates the ceasefire. While there are many parallel diplomatic processes—Russia’s, the OSCE’s, and the United States’—regional diplomats say that increasingly only Washington’s matters. Perhaps diplomacy is back.

How the White House and State Department craft diplomacy, however, is important. While the Biden administration seeks to promote a wide-ranging peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, by conflating three different conflicts into one, they may condemn themselves to failure.

There are actually three different conflicts: Turkey-Armenia, Armenia-Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan-Artsakh (the self-declared ethnic Armenian republic in Nagorno-Karabakh).

Turkey has blockaded Armenia since its re-independence in 1991, based not on any land dispute but rather on Turkey’s ethnic hatred toward Armenia. Ending this blockade should be an American interest, as it forces Armenia to use Iran as its economic outlook. Just last week, Turkey closed its airspace to Armenian passenger flights. The Turkey-Armenia diplomatic process should also address ending Turkey’s denial of the Armenian genocide. After all, if Germany’s official policy were to deny the Holocaust, no one in Washington would consider it an indispensable ally.

Armenia’s dispute with Azerbaijan should also be easily resolved. The two countries might appoint a third party—perhaps from a neutral Scandinavian country—to demarcate their borders. If Baku is sincere, it would drop its reference to fraudulent or extremist maps that show Armenia does not exist. Armenia, after all, could point to many maps from the pre-Soviet period that show a greater Armenia and no Azerbaijan. The 1975 Soviet General Staff map of the South Caucasus appears the most accurate map and can be the basis for peace. Azerbaijan, too, would have to end its blockade.

The Azerbaijan-Artsakh dispute will be the most difficult to resolve. Throughout the dispute, Armenia refrained from recognizing Artsakh’s independence so as not to undermine diplomacy. For Azerbaijan to negotiate with Armenia directly belies Azerbaijan’s insistence Armenia should have no role. Precedent is also against Armenia negotiating the fate of Artsakh. After all, Serbia and the United States did not insist Albania negotiate on behalf of Kosovo against the backdrop of that country’s fight for freedom against Serbia.

While Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says the Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s based on Joseph Stalin’s gerrymandering, the region’s Armenian population has reason to be worried based on Azerbaijan’s war crimes, bulldozing of cultural heritage and, most recently, efforts to starve the Armenian population. Residents are right to be concerned that if they visit Armenia, Aliyev simply would not allow them back, a slow motion ethnic cleansing. Residents are also concerned that Aliyev’s serial violation of the 2020 ceasefire and the failure of Washington to hold him to account will only encourage future violations.

President Joe Biden’s team deserves credit for turning its attention to a long-neglected region, but not all diplomacy is the same. How Biden’s team frames the issue matters. It will be far easier to achieve lasting peace if the White House recognizes that what they assume to be one conflict is actually three. Two of these conflicts will be easy to resolve if leaders have good faith. If Turkey and Azerbaijan show they do not, then diplomacy is premature absent a push through sanctions and other coercive measures to make both Ankara and Baku offers they cannot refuse.

https://www.aei.org/foreign-and-defense-policy/are-us-brokered-armenia-azerbaijan-peace-talks-dead-on-arrival/

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Senator Menendez asks Samantha Power why USAID isn't airlifting humanitarian supplies to blockaded Armenians in NK

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12:31, 3 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 3, ARMENPRESS. United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Senator Bob Menendez has criticized the USAID for its slow responses.

Addressing USAID Administrator Samantha Power at a Senate hearing, he said that the agency ‘moves slower than molasses’ and asked why it hasn’t airlifted humanitarian supplies to Armenians who are now blockaded in Nagorno Karabakh.

“Often times USAID moves slower than molasses. Case in point: The humanitarian crisis for Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh is only getting worse. Where are we? Why aren’t we airlifting humanitarian supplies to those Armenians facing Baku’s blockade? We need to respond to events quickly and we also need to address root causes,” Menendez said.

Senator Menendez asked Power to comment on how much assistance Armenia and Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh will receive from the $40,000,000 assistance program envisaged for Eurasia and Central Asia countries under the U.S. budget. He expressed concern that these funds won’t reach the vulnerable Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh.

Power was unable to give an answer, noting that she ‘doesn’t have that figure of the top of my head’. “We’ve conducted two assessment missions to the region to look at the needs specifically in Nagorno Karabakh,” she added. Menendez told Power to provide him a copy of the assessment. “I’d like to see the assessment. Particularly how you are going to be able to achieve delivering humanitarian assistance in the Lachin Corridor,” Menendez said.

After the hearings, Menendez tweeted: “As I did at Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s recent hearing on USAID's FY24 budget request, I will continue to call for relief for Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. I will continue to condemn Azerbaijan's Lachin Corridor checkpoint. I will continue to speak out. We cannot be silent.”

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1110107.html?fbclid=IwAR1uIkwFh2FgOZvXPT73St9fR7l3RN2r9MCFE8YsBPWKGYSludsRTocFWZI

[Yervant1]

I think Mr. Blinken is being too optimistic. Fake sultan says something and does the exact opposite, after consultation with his masters Putin and ErDOGan.

May 5 2023

Peace deal 'within reach' in Armenia-Azerbaijan talks

Paul HANDLEY

AFP: A peace deal to end Armenia and Azerbaijan's three-decade-old dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave is "within reach" after four days of talks in Washington, US top diplomat Antony Blinken said Thursday.

The discussions between Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov did not result in a deal to end the territorial conflict between the two ex-Soviet republics, but Blinken said progress had been made.

"The two sides have discussed some very tough issues over the last few days, and they've made tangible progress on a durable peace agreement," the secretary of state said.

"I hope that they see and I believe that they do, as I do, that there is an agreement within sight, within reach," he said.

Blinken added later that the two sides "demonstrated a sincere commitment" to normalizing relations and ending their longstanding conflict.

"Both Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed in principle to certain terms and have a better understanding of one another's positions on outstanding issues," he said.

The two countries put out identical statements following the talks, saying they had laid out their positions on normalization.

"The Ministers and their teams advanced mutual understanding on some articles of the draft bilateral Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations," the statements said.

Both sides acknowledged, however, "that the positions on some key issues remain divergent."

Armenia and Azerbaijan were both republics of the Soviet Union and gained their independence when it broke up in 1991.

The two sides have gone to war twice over disputed territories, mainly Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan.

Tens of thousands were killed in the wars, one lasting six years and ending in 1994, and the second in 2020, which ended in a Russia-negotiated peace deal.

But clashes have broken out regularly since then.

Azerbaijan injected new tensions last week when it placed a checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor, the only land link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia views the move as a violation of a ceasefire negotiated between the two sides.

- 'The last mile' -

The four days of talks between Mirzoyan and Bayramov took place out of the view of media in a secure State Department facility in Arlington, a suburb of the US capital.

Ahead of the talks, a US official said they wanted the sides to sit down together and the primary aim was to move toward normalizing relations.

Blinken praised the foreign ministers for their leadership.

"None of this is easy, but the commitment, the determination to move forward to deal with the remaining challenging issues is real," he said.

"The last mile of any marathon is always the hardest. We know that," he added.

"But the United States is here to continue to help both of our friends cross the finish line."

He said he had proposed the two ministers return to their capitals "to share with their governments the perspective that, with additional goodwill, flexibility and compromise, an agreement is within reach."

Earlier this week, however, Russia said there was "no alternative" to a deal it signed with the two warring countries in 2020.

"For the moment, there is no other legal basis that would help a resolution. There is no alternative to these trilateral documents," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

pmh/sw

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/agreement-within-sight-armenia-azerbaijan-194106612.html

 

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Ready for talks, but not with the gun to our head – says former State Minister of Nagorno Karabakh

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16:16, 9 May 2023

STEPANAKERT, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. Citizens of Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh gathered at the central plaza in Stepanakert city for the No to Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh movement’s rally on May 9.

The rally began with a prayer at the Renaissance Square , followed by a moment of silence in honor of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in WWII and the Nagorno Karabakh wars.

The participants of the rally reiterated their demands and determination to struggle for their right to live freely.

The text of a recently launched petition addressed to the leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries and the Armenian Prime Minister was read.

The petition warns that Azerbaijan is carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing, genocidal actions aimed at depriving the people of their homeland and is keeping 120,000 Armenians blockaded. It also mentions the gross violations of the 2020 ceasefire agreement – the trilateral statement – by Azerbaijan.

“We demand the application of all international mechanisms to ensure the terms of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, as well as the implementation of the UN International Court of Justice ruling,” reads the petition.

Former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan was also in attendance.

“On April 23, Azerbaijan violated the red lines and installed a checkpoint. The violation of these red lines makes us struggle, as honorable men, because we have no other option. No one should restrict our free access and exit in and from Armenia. We are under blockade for already 149 days, we don’t have gas and power, and you know the situation in Sarsang reservoir. We have many problems, but we are not giving up. Yes, the situation is difficult, but one thing is certain, there can be no talk about any so-called reintegration. We are defending our home, our cities and villages, the graves of our ancestors, our right to live on our land. We don’t want to attack anyone, we want a calm and happy life in our homeland. We are ready for negotiations, but these negotiations cannot take place with the gun to our head, but only in case of mutual respect,” Vardanyan said, calling on Armenians around the world to be united for Artsakh.

President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan, together with former presidents Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, were also in attendance.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1110535.html?fbclid=IwAR2pP7m_hD7kbBYJRhytBvInrYZz8U4-TL02FliEjOXtSzq9FOVPsRUwZAk

[MosJan]

 

I think Mr. Blinken is being too optimistic. Fake sultan says something and does the exact opposite, after consultation with his masters Putin and ErDOGan.

 

 

wan west & putin are done with him

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Lachin Corridor should be opened – OSCE MG Russian Co-chair

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18:10, 10 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 10, ARMENPRESS. On May 10, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan met with Igor Khovaev, the Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the special representative of the Russian Foreign Minister for supporting the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan and Igor Khovaev discussed the latest developments in the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Secretary of the Security Council presented to the interlocutor the positions of the Armenian side on a number of issues of the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

Referring to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, the parties stressed that the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh should be respected and protected. The Russian side emphasized that the Lachin Corridor should be opened and operate within the framework of the November 9 tripartite declaration.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1110610.html?fbclid=IwAR1ke_v6DOuj4wOncj6Pevv7Hj73FAGHejuPtBiArKgyAT2KONTkfMOHiPU

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Asbarez.com

Artsakh Accuses EU’s Leadership of Ignoring its Legitimate Rights and Interests

by Asbarez Staff

May 15, 2023

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

President of the European Council Charles Michel

 

The Artsakh Foreign Ministry on Monday accused the European Union of solely acting on its short term geopolitical interests and accused the bloc of ignoring the legitimate rights and interests of the people of Artsakh.

Stepanakert’s harsh response to the EU came a day after the European Council President Charles Michel hosted a meeting in Brussels between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan.

Following the talks on Sunday, Michel issued a statement summing up the meeting and said that he had urged Aliyev to ensure the security of “Armenians living in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast,” the area Artsakh was known as during the Soviet Union and before it declared independence in 1991. A referendum held in December, 1992 verified that independence by an overwhelming majority.

Furthermore, in his statement Michel announced that Pashinyan had accepted the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, which he said was 86,600 square kilometers, essentially recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.

“The content of the statement as a whole, as well as a number of points contained there indicate that the EU leadership continues to ignore the legitimate rights and interests of the people of Artsakh and is guided solely by their own geopolitical and short-term interests in the region to the detriment of the values of democracy and human rights declared by the European Union,” said the Artsakh Foreign Ministry in its statement.

“This is evidenced in particular by the absence in the statement of any mention of more than five-month blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the establishment of an illegal Azerbaijani checkpoint at the entrance to the corridor and the factual siege of the 120,000 population of Artsakh with all the ensuing humanitarian consequences,” explained the statement.

“This is an indication of the fact that the President of the European Council not only does not prevent, but in fact indulges Azerbaijan in using the suffering of the people of Artsakh as a political tool,” emphasized Stepanakert.

 

“However, if the intentions and visible actions of Azerbaijan to provoke a humanitarian catastrophe and carry out ethnic cleansing in Artsakh are not a matter of concern for the President of the European Council, we still had the right to expect that the organization he represents would show direct interest in Azerbaijan’s strict compliance with the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice, as one of the pillars of contemporary international legal order,” said the statement.

“In this regard, the European Council President’s defiant disregard for Azerbaijan’s consistent non-compliance with the legally binding Order of the principal judicial organ of the UN and its systematic violations of international law, in particular the non-use or threat of force and the peaceful settlement of disputes, is puzzling,” stressed the Artsakh foreign ministry.

“It is only the effective measures on the part of the international community aimed at forcing Azerbaijan to immediately and unconditionally implement its obligations under the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020 and the Order of the International Court of Justice of February 22, 2023, that may testify that those acting as mediators are sincerely interested in lasting peace and stability in the region,” added Stepanakert.

“We believe that those international actors who either by their action or inaction are encouraging Baku in their aggressive, expansionist policies and internationally wrongful acts, not only bear responsibility for their grave consequences, but also justify the recurrence of such policies and violations in other parts of the world,” the foreign ministry explained.

Michel was one of the foreign leaders who had urged Baku to end the blockade. Several EU representatives, as well as leaders of EU-member countries had called on Azerbaijan to comply with the ICJ’s order to ensure “unimpeded access” on the Lachin Corridor.

“We would like to recall once again that in 1991, the people of Artsakh, in full compliance with international law and domestic legislation in force at that time, exercised their inalienable right to self-determination and established their statehood on the same basis as Azerbaijan and Armenia. The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh have consistently defended and will continue to defend the legitimate choice and _expression_ of the free will of their people,” said Stepanakert.

“Representatives of individual countries and international organizations have no right to decide the fate of the people of Artsakh. Furthermore, any attempt to impose on the people of Artsakh an agenda legitimizes the illegal use of force and ongoing terror is tantamount to complicity in the implementation of Azerbaijan’s criminal plans of ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and maintaining a permanent source of tension in the region, as well as encouraging Baku’s territorial ambitions and aggressive policies,” the Artsakh foreign ministry emphasized.

“To this end, we reiterate the determination of the people and authorities of the Republic of Artsakh to continue the struggle for their inalienable rights in accordance with the norms and principles of international law. We are convinced that only the recognition of the right to self-determination exercised by the people of Artsakh can become the basis for a sustainable settlement of the conflict and the establishment of just and lasting peace and stability in the region,” added Stepanakert.

“We would like to also recall that the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh have always advocated a comprehensive settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict through negotiations. The Republic of Artsakh remains open to discussing all components of the conflict and reasonable proposals aimed at a peaceful settlement, in an agreed and internationally recognized negotiation format, based on the equal rights of the parties and in the presence of strong international guarantees for the implementation of their obligations,” the statement concluded.

https://asbarez.com/artsakh-accuses-eus-leadership-of-ignoring-its-legitimate-rights-and-interests/?fbclid=IwAR2Q9d3Og7-rWLJIfWEl_7xaajc_aUumVH6e-Ebj2M7GGV25d9xldbq8pvI

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

BARRON'S

Armenia - May 17 2023

Moscow To Host Armenia-Azerbaijan Talks Friday

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are set to meet in Moscow on Friday for talks on resolving a decades-long territorial dispute, Russia said.

The negotiations will be held amid rising tensions between the arch foe Caucasus neighbours that see frequent deadly clashes along their volatile frontier, where an Armenian soldier was killed on Wednesday.

Friday's meeting follows several rounds of talks led by the European Union and United States.

Brussels and Washington's increased diplomatic engagement in the Caucasus has irked traditional regional power-broker Russia.

A meeting involving the foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan "will take place in Moscow on May 19," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

Before the trilateral talks the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, are expected to discuss a draft peace treaty, she said.

On Wednesday evening, Armenia's defence ministry said one of ts servicemen "died en route to hospital after he was wounded by Azerbaijani forces who opened fire" at the two countries' shared border.

Last week, one Armenian, and one Azerbaijani soldier were killed in border clashes.

Baku and Yerevan fought two wars -- in 2020 and in the 1990s -- for control of Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Six weeks of hostilities in autumn 2020 ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire that saw Armenia cede swathes of territory it had controlled for decades.

Yerevan has grown increasingly frustrated over what it calls Moscow's failure to protect Armenia in the face of military threat from Azerbaijan.

With Russia bogged down in Ukraine and unwilling to strain ties with Azerbaijan's key ally Turkey, the United States and European Union have sought to steer the talks.

On Sunday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Brussels for a new round of talks hosted by European Council President Charles Michel.

Another meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev was set for June 1 in Moldova and is expected to involve French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

https://www.barrons.com/news/moscow-to-host-armenia-azerbaijan-talks-friday-e5a9887a

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

OPEN CANADA

May 18 2023

Time for Canada to step up in the South Caucasus

In Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenians face armed aggression and ethnic-cleansing

BY: SUSAN KORAH /

18 MAY, 2023

As ripples from the Russia-Ukraine war spread outwards, its impact – largely ignored by the international media – has been particularly acute in the South Caucasus. Here, a deadly brew of armed aggression and ethnic cleansing against the majority population of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, a land-locked and mostly mountainous area within the territory of Azerbaijan, has the potential to erupt into another bloody war and destabilize the entire region.

Conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh (also referred to as Artsakh by Armenians) are also ripe for a full-blown genocide, warn several human rights organizations. The International Crisis Group (ICG), an independent organization working to prevent wars and shape policies for a more peaceful world, has also placed this situation on their list of conflicts to watch in 2023.

The current situation came about following renewed fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia that began in September 2020. Azerbaijan, with the support of Turkiye, made significant gains and recaptured previously Armenian-occupied Azeri territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh itself. The fighting ended in early November 2020 after a ceasefire agreement was signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which also led to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers.

However, the Russian peacekeepers, charged with maintaining law, order and security according to the November 2020 agreement, have not stopped several flare-ups this past year, ICG stated in its April 2023 report. In particular, the report noted that last year Azerbaijan improved its military position vis-à-vis Nagorno-Karabakh and Baku had sent “troops over the border to take positions inside Armenia, where they remain.

Russian peacekeepers are also supposed to ensure the safe passage for people and supplies through the six-kilometre long Lachin corridor that connects what remains of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. However, the corridor was recently blockaded for months by so-called eco-activists. While they have since departed, a new corridor checkpoint guarded by Azeri soldiers continues to restrict the movement of people and goods.

Indeed, isolated, encircled and cut off from food and vital supplies for five long months by the eco-activists – with no relief in sight – some 120,000 Armenians in Artsakh say it is not a leap of the imagination to conclude that they are targets of a campaign of ethnic cleansing or genocide by Azerbaijan, given the long history of discord between the two countries.

The 1948 UN Convention on Genocide states that this crime against humanity may be committed by causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group or deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.

What makes the situation even more unbearable is that that blockade has stopped most humanitarian organizations from delivering aid to a panic-stricken and starving people.

Several of these organizations have voiced their concerns. Michael LaCivita, Director of Communications for Catholic Near Eastern Welfare Association (CNEWA), an international charitable organization has been observing the scene from his New York office.

“According to Caritas Armenia, the charity of the Catholic Church in Armenia, only two groups can supply aid into Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been completely severed by Azerbaijanis since 12 December 2022: the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Russian peacekeeping forces that have been in place since 9 November 2020,” he told Open Canada. “It’s estimated that 65 percent of those who fled to Armenia in 2020, when Azerbaijan attacked Armenia – mostly women, children and the elderly – have returned to the enclave, although much of its territory has been seized by Azerbaijan, and its infrastructure, destroyed.”

“ICRC has been one of the few organizations that have been able to provide some assistance to the population,” confirmed Hagop Ipdjian, Strategic Planning Coordinator, Humanitarian Assistance Department of Artsakh from his office in Stepakakert.

“However, the aid has been limited in scale, and the organization has faced numerous challenges in delivering aid to those in need,” he added.

Nuri Kino, leader of the Sweden-based humanitarian organization A Demand for Action (ADFA) agreed that this is an unprecedented situation. Kino, who founded ADFA in 2014 to help survivors of the ISIS genocide in the Middle East is acutely aware of impending and unfolding genocides.

“We were among the first responders to help refugees from the Artsakh war of 2020,” he said. “We sent over 40 tonnes tons of winter clothing and $30,000 US worth of food to refugees from this war. We have been monitoring the current situation there daily and are ready to send humanitarian aid, but the blockade is proving to be a real obstruction this time. The international community needs to act immediately to put an end to it.”

Isa-Lei Arminé Moberg, a humanitarian aid consultant living in Sweden has reported that other organizations such as Médecins sans Frontières have been unable to provide services including mental health support that they had been able to deliver in the past.

The hardships suffered by the Armenian population, under the prolonged blockade, and the threat of genocide hovering over their heads, are traumatizing, not only for the people living under siege but also for their loved ones scattered all over the world, say members of the Armenian diaspora in Canada.

Lucy Dadayan of Montreal is one whose family is directly affected by the blockade.

“The humanitarian catastrophe was devastating even at the beginning,” Dadayan, who recently returned from a visit to Armenia, told me. “But the worry is even bigger now. It has been five months since the blockade started and the international community has done nothing to lift the blockade and prevent the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Armenians from their ancestral lands.”

“People don’t have sufficient or nutritious food to eat and have been getting very limited food via food stamps,” she said. “Warmer weather has not brought much relief. Farmers are afraid to do their work because every single day Azerbaijan fires on workers in the fields.”

Furthermore, Azerbaijan has completely cut gas for almost two months, making travel between villages impossible, and that this is particularly hard on the elderly and on children, she added.
“My aunt’s husband died a couple of months ago and my father couldn’t travel from Yerevan to Artsakh to be at the funeral. Many families are still separated because of the blockade,” she said.

Desperate for a way to help, she offered to give English lessons to her relative’s children via Zoom, but found that was impossible because electricity is cut off on a regular basis and the internet is slow. “There are 30,000 children in Artsakh whose childhood is being taken from them because of the blockade,” she added.

Inga Emiryan, another Canadian Armenian is watching the Artsakh scene with a growing sense of alarm.

“My family, who is in Stepanakert is struggling to survive every day. They stand in endless lines for basic products like flour, sugar, cooking oil and pasta. I must work twice as hard to send money for their survival,” she said from her home in Toronto.

The humanitarian consequences of the blockade have been discussed by the United Nations Security Council; the European Parliament adopted strong resolutions to end it while the European Court for Human Rights ordered Azerbaijan to end the blockade. While this has happened in one sense, in another the new government checkpoint serves the same purpose.

The UN International Court of Justice at the Hague has ruled that all restrictions by Azerbaijanis impeding the free flow of movement of people, vehicles, and goods through the Lachin corridor must be lifted.

The Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs also unanimously adopted a motion on 14 February 2023, calling on Azerbaijan to open the Lachin corridor, guarantee the freedom of movement and avoid further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We are waiting for the government response to the committee’s motion calling for an end to the blockade,” a spokesperson from a committee member’s office said in an e-mail dated 24 April. And the next day, Ottawa finally released a statement noting the establishment of a checkpoint by Azerbaijan in the Lachin corridor was continuing to undermine the peace process and the government called on Baku to guarantee the freedom of movement of people and goods.

On 5 May 2023 the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did meet with Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to discuss the situation, but Artsakh residents claim that there has been no actual relief from the effects of the blockade.

As for Canada, and other Western governments, there is a need pull their collective weight to resolve the issue.

For example, the Canadian government, under the leadership of then Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy played a leading role in the development of the UN principle of R2P (Responsibility to Protect) which is rooted in international human rights law and international humanitarian law. It was adopted by the UN in 2005.

R2P states that the international community has a responsibility to protect populations from crimes such as ethnic cleansing and genocide through appropriate intervention such as actual or threatened political and economic sanctions, blockades, diplomatic and military threats, international criminal prosecutions –and as a last resort – actual military action.

R2P emerged as a result of the failure of the international community to respond effectively to atrocities committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

The blockade of the Lachin Corridor is clearly endangering the lives of an entire population, and also bears the marks of an unfolding genocide.

Canada, and the rest of the international community, should seriously consider applying the principle of R2P to stop ethnic cleansing in Artsakh and prevent tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia from erupting again into armed conflict or other forms of aggression by either side. Perhaps now might be the time for Canada to also step-up and lead efforts to create a UN peacekeeping force to replace the Russian presence?

There are other actions the Canadian government could also take to contribute to the long-term security in the South Caucasus. Last year, Ottawa announced that Canada will open a new embassy in Armenia with a resident Ambassador and a consulate has already opened in Yerevan. This was good news, but Canada should also have a permanent diplomatic presence in Azerbaijan, instead of double-hatting our ambassador in Turkiye. It just makes sense given that Russia’s presence in the South Caucasus is likely to fade given the continuing war in Ukraine and the possibility of a new all-out war between Armenia and Azerbaijan could easily erupt if the international community moves on to yet another crisis.

Indeed, renewed fighting would destabilize the entire region, undoubtedly lead to ethnic cleansing, while also jeopardizing important trade and energy routes that criss-cross the South Caucasus – all together dire consequences for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and the entire region that must not be allowed to happen.

Susan Korah - Award-winning freelance journalist based in Ottawa

https://opencanada.org/time-for-canada-to-step-up-in-the-south-caucasus/

[Yervant1]

Asbarez.com

Artsakh President Urges Yerevan to Refrain From Agreeing to Azerbaijani Control of Karabakh

by Asbarez Staff

May 23, 2023

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan delivers a televised address on May 23

 

Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan appealed to Armenia’s authorities to refrain from any efforts and statements that consider Artsakh part of Azerbaijan, urging Yerevan to remain true to state and international obligations, as well as Armenian national interests and aspirations.

Harutyunyan made the statement in a nationally televised address in light of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s announcement on Monday that signaled Yerevan’s readiness to see Artsakh under Azerbaijani control.

In response to Pashinyan’s announcement, Artsakh’s National Assembly unanimously approved an angrily-worded statement condemning Pashinyan for his actions. Harutyunyan welcomed the parliament’s statement.

In his remarks directed at Armenia’s authorities, Harutyunyan said that his government fully comprehends that Armenia finds itself in a vulnerable position after the 2020 war, adding that the Artsakh authorities have approached various developments with great understanding and have and continue to endure the brunt of all kinds of deprivations, in order to neutralize all intimidation tactics that might force Armenia to make concessions.

 

“However, there are concrete principles and red lines whose violation we consider unacceptable and inadmissible. Recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan is one of those red lines, which we are confident that the for the vast majority of Armenians remains the same,” Harutyunyan said.

“The main condition for the Republic of Armenia, in its dealings and posturing as it relates to Artsakh, must be the _expression_ of the will of the people of Artsakh, which was unequivocally voiced through the independence and constitutional referendums that took place with the unconditional support of the Republic of Armenia and all Armenians around the world,” Harutyunyan added.

“The normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot take place with a completely separate approach from that of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict and at the expense of the fundamental rights and interests of the people of Artsakh,” emphasized the Artsakh leader who also stressed that these principles are an integral and crucial part of the interests of the entire Armenian Nation.

“For us any announcement or document that ignores the self-governance of the Republic of Artsakh, the right to self-determination of our people and the facts of its practical implementation, are unacceptable,” Haurutyunyan said in welcoming the Artsakh National Assembly’s unanimous declaration and in response to Pashinyan’s announcement.

“Artsakh has never been and will never be part of Azerbaijan, because this is the will of our people who have an unwavering determination to fight for their rights and interests. I am confident that those fighting [for these rights] will not be alone. Not only will all Armenians continue to support our struggle, there will be principled supporters in the international arena,” added Harutyunyan.

The Artsakh president said that the ongoing threats to the safety of Artsakh, the deteriorating humanitarian conditions as a result of the five-month-old blockade and international developments prompted him to speak to the nation. He enumerated the mounting challenges and said that the following issues continued to impact the landscape and stability:

• The more than five-month-long blockade of Artsakh has increased the humanitarian and political challenges and added to security threats;
• The deterioration of the humanitarian situation and the increase of risks due to the ongoing risks to Artsakh’s vital infrastructures;
• The ongoing threats of new military aggression by Azerbaijan against Artsakh and overt ethnic cleansing ambitions;
• The serious breach of the Russian guarantees to the security of the people of Artsakh, mandated by the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020.
• The escalation of geopolitical tensions in the region and Azerbaijan’s aggressive policies stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict;
• The continued weakening of international structures and the failure of the international community to ensure the security and fundamental rights of the people of Artsakh and uphold the implementation of the decisions of international courts;
• Armenia’s continued weakening position in the process to normalize relations with Azerbaijan and efforts to recognize Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.

Harutyunyan said that Russia, and its president Vladimir Putin, have shouldered obligations outlined in the November 9, 2020 agreement that include keeping the Lachin Corridor open; eliminating all obstacles advanced by Azerbaijan, freeing the 120,000 residents of Artsakh from becoming hostages to terrorists; and preventing Azerbaijan’s aggression against the people of Artsakh.

“Regardless of how the actions of the other sides [to the agreements], Russia has taken on specific obligations, which have served as a critical impetus for the people of Artsakh to return after the war. Thus, we expect the unwavering and decisive fulfillment of those obligations, in the name of the interests of Artsakh and Russia, as well as the centuries-old alliance and friendship between the Armenians and Russians,” Harutyunyan stressed.

The Artsakh president also appealed to all stakeholders in the international community, especially the United Nations Security Council “to first and foremost ensure that Azerbaijan fully adheres to the February 22, 2023 decision of the UN’s International Court of Justice ruling.”

He also emphasized that it is crucial to guarantee the security of the people of Artsakh based on UN principles and goals, through various mechanisms.

https://asbarez.com/artsakh-president-urges-yerevan-to-refrain-from-agreeing-to-azerbaijani-control-of-karabakh/?fbclid=IwAR1A_fCs6-0QOBsdKXLrPs_6EEAAIBPT3wsr-9KkXOSd8xrn7cbr75uWpgQ

[Yervant1]

Asbarez.com

Armenian Church Leaders Unite to Warn Biden that Forcing Artsakh into Azerbaijan is a Death Sentence for Christian Armenians

by Contributor

June 1, 2023

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

The Armenian Apostolic, Catholic, and Evangelical Churches speak with one voice in supporting Artsakh’s right to self-determination.

Apostolic, Catholic, and Evangelical Churches Speak with One Voice in Defense of Artsakh

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES —The spiritual leaders of America’s Armenian Apostolic, Catholic, and Evangelical faithful have joined forces in a powerful public warning to President Biden that forcing Artsakh under Azerbaijan is a “death sentence for the Armenians of this sacred land, home to 120,000 men, women, and children.”

In a letter sent yesterday to the White House, the Church leaders wrote: “We, the spiritual leaders of American Christians of Armenian heritage, call on you to stand firmly against any attempt to force the Christian Armenians of Artsakh under Azerbaijan, a country that is openly committed to ethnically cleansing the indigenous population of this ancient part of the Armenian homeland.”

The signatories to the letter are Archbishop Hovnan Derderian (Western Diocese Prelate), Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian (Eastern Prelacy Primate), Very Rev. Mesrop Parsamyan (Eastern Diocese Primate), Bishop Torkom Donoyan (Western Prelacy Prelate), Bishop Mikhael Mouradian (Eparch Armenian Catholic Eparchy), Reverend Hendrik Shanazarian (Interim Minister, Armenian Evangelical Union), and Zaven Khanjian (Armenian Missionary Association of America Executive Director).

The full text of the interdenominational letter is provided below.

May 30, 2023

President Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We, the spiritual leaders of American Christians of Armenian heritage, call on you to stand firmly against any attempt to force the Christian Armenians of Artsakh under Azerbaijan, a country that is openly committed to ethnically cleansing the indigenous population of this ancient part of the Armenian homeland. Any settlement that subordinates the at-risk citizens of democratic Artsakh to dictatorial Azerbaijan is a death sentence for the Armenians of this sacred land, home to 120,000 men, women, and children, and, of course, countless holy sites.

We make this urgent appeal in the wake of our longstanding calls for you to withdraw your waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act and fully enforce this provision of U.S. law. As we have shared with you in the past, Armenia, the world’s first Christian nation, remains a landlocked, blockaded, genocide-survivor state, striving to survive on the frontiers of global freedom. Our great nation must stand with Armenia in every way, beginning with a suspension of U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan, a country that would erase our ancient nation from the map of the world. We must never, as Americans, be complicit in such genocidal violence.

We look forward to learning of your renewed leadership in saving Christian Armenian lives and advancing a truly democratic peace that respects the right to self-determination of Artsakh, an early cradle of Christianity.

We pray that the Almighty Lord bless you abundantly and His wisdom leads your endeavors with success, spreading peace, justice, and prosperity to the world.

Sincerely,

Archbishop Hovnan Derderian
Western Diocese Prelate

Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian
Eastern Prelacy Primate

Very Rev. Mesrop Parsamyan
Eastern Diocese Primate

Bishop Torkom Donoyan
Western Prelacy Prelate

Bishop Mikhael Mouradian
Eparch Armenian Catholic Eparchy

Reverend Hendrik Shanazarian
Interim Minister, Armenian Evangelical Union

Zaven Khanjian
Armenian Missionary Association of America Executive Director

https://asbarez.com/armenian-church-leaders-unite-to-warn-biden-that-forcing-artsakh-into-azerbaijan-is-a-death-sentence-for-christian-armenians/?fbclid=IwAR27Vrt7kx_OyYuE1D8yY2jmTEZf4_bHd5bjI0nC76laWCCZf34iKepy3lE

[Yervant1]

NEWS.am

Armenia - June 5 2023

Baroness Caroline Cox to Karabakh people: Better to endure great sacrifice rather than accepting false promise of peace

17:22, 05.06.2023

Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom (UK), has issued a letter addressed to the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). The letter runs as follows: To the people of the Republic of Artsakh, for whom I have profound affection and deep respect. I write to you today because 120,000 innocent civilians face an existential crisis.

Conditions are now present for genocide against the Armenian Christians of Artsakh.

Your people have suffered, and continue to suffer, the most serious international crimes. I have personally witnessed the results of massacres, atrocities and forced displacement. Yet the world has chosen to turn a deaf ear to your suffering. Even your closest international allies have either not paid attention to, or ignored, the warning signs of genocide.

During this darkest hour, I stand in solidarity with the Armenians of Artsakh. I have great confidence in your ability to overcome this crisis with courage, fortitude, sacrifice and love – not only will you survive but you will create beauty from the ashes of destruction. I am told that I have visited the Republic of Artsakh 88 times since 1990. I have been privileged to experience the love of your history and your rich culture of music, dance and art – all within the context of the breathtaking beauty of your land’s rugged mountains, thick forests, fertile valleys and crystal rivers. I have been blessed to meet a host of wonderful people, many the direct descendants of victims of the Great Genocide in Anatolia, or themselves victims of anti Armenian pogroms in Sumgait and Baku, and ethnic-religious cleansing in Artsakh. I am struck by the unanimity with which they share a simple common goal: it is to live in peace, dignity and security in their own historic land. This longing continues to fill my heart.

I always carry with me the memory of a young woman I met in a hospital in Martakert in 1992, after I had visited the village of Maragha, which had just been subjected to a massacre inflicted by Azerbaijan. Whilst in the remains of the village, I saw corpses of civilians decapitated by Azerbaijani militants; vertebrae still on the ground; people’s blood still smeared on walls; homes that had been set alight were still smoldering. The day I met this woman, she was in agony over the deaths of her son and fourteen of her relatives who had been killed in the 1 massacre in Maragha. I wept with her. There are no words for a time like that. But when she stopped weeping, I asked her if she had a message she would like to share with the world. She replied, “All I want to say is thank you to those people who have not forgotten us in these terrible days.”

I do not think “thank you” are the words that would have come to my mind on the day I had seen so many of my family killed in such horrific circumstances. That is the dignity of the Armenian people. If I could speak to this woman today, I would tell her: “We love you and we have not forgotten you, even as the dark cloud of the Armenian Genocide, once again, looms over the mountains of your land.”

During the previous war, I met an Armenian man who had seen the body of a five-year-old Armenian girl, cut in two, hanging from the branch of a tree. He wept with horror and vowed revenge. Later, when his section of the Karabakh army captured villages, he could not bring himself to harm an Azerbaijani child. When this story was told at a dinner – in the Armenian style of making speeches – a journalist commended the man for his humanity and dignity. To which he replied: “Dignity is a crown of thorns.” The people of Artsakh have been wearing your crown of thorns with inspirational courage and dignity. I have never been as concerned about Artsakh’s future as I am today. Azerbaijan’s conquest and ethnic-religious cleansing of two thirds of Artsakh in 2020, with the direct assistance of Turkey and its allied jihadist militias; its detention, torture and killing of Armenian hostages; its subsequent military incursions and occupation of territory belonging to the Republic of Armenia; its current blockade of Artsakh; and its territorial claims on the whole of Armenia all bear witness to this grim reality. Conditions are present for genocide against the Armenian Christians of Artsakh.

However, signatories to the Genocide Convention – including the United States, France and my own Government in the United Kingdom – have refused their legal obligation to prevent the worst from happening, to provide protection to those who need it, and to punish those who are responsible for atrocities. Not one nation appears willing to prevent, provide or protect. I am deeply disturbed by reports that the Republic of Armenia is being pressured by international powers to contemplate sacrificing your homeland of Artsakh to the Republic of Azerbaijan in return for a so-called peace treaty. If reports are to be believed, those involved in the negotiation process say that the treaty will secure the borders of the Republic of Armenia and allow trade to open up with the Turkish world. 2 My dear friends, as you are aware, these promises of peace and prosperity come at a price. If the treaty is signed in its current form, you would be expected to surrender your international right of self-determination. You would be expected to concede control over your lives, liberty and land. To use a recent phrase from the Armenian Supreme Spiritual Council: By “recognising the Republic of Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, the Armenian authorities will inevitably confront our brothers and sisters in Artsakh with a new genocide and depatriation.”

If a peace treaty is signed and later broken by Azerbaijan, history has shown that international powers would not be willing to respond. During the Russian brokered ceasefire in November 2020, Azerbaijan promised to ‘stop at their current positions’ yet its armed forces have since advanced into new positions with impunity. Azerbaijan promised ‘the exchange of prisoners of war’, yet dozens of Armenian military and civilian personnel remain in Azerbaijani custody, many of whom have undergone speedy criminal trials. Azerbaijan has not been held to account for breaking the 2020 ceasefire. One can only suspect that an agreement that results from present-day negotiations, in their current form, will not guarantee peace for the Armenians of Artsakh.

One of my great fears is the annihilation of all Armenian churches, monuments and other cultural and spiritual treasures, which would fall under Azerbaijan’s control. Many Armenian sites have already been targeted and badly damaged since 2020, including the world-famous Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi, an archaeological camp near Tigranakert, and a memorial dedicated to the victims of the previous war. We must not forget the systematic erasure of centuries-old Armenian religious sites in Nakhchivan, including the attack on the Armenian Djulfa cemetery, where Azerbaijani soldiers, armed with sledgehammers and cranes, destroyed hundreds of hand-carved cross-stones. Under Azerbaijan’s control, there are strong grounds for belief that another ‘Nakhichevan’ would be imposed in Artsakh – a priceless part of humanity’s common cultural heritage will be destroyed. I keep in mind a lesson from the Bible. In the last days of the kingdom of Judah, the Prophet Jeremiah lamented that his countrymen were saying, “‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” In that case, the consequence of the nation accepting a false sense of peace was the loss of its homeland and exile in a foreign country.

When I was a young child, my own country was isolated and facing its darkest hour. Great Britain was existentially threatened by an ultra-nationalistic, genocidal dictatorship. Our then Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, promised the nation “peace in our time”, but there was no peace. His successor, Winston Churchill assumed the post of Prime Minister promising the nation nothing more 3 than “blood, toil, sweat and tears”. But the indescribable price of ‘blood, toil, sweat and tears’ resulted in the privilege we now enjoy of living in freedom.

It is my hope and prayer that the long-suffering Armenian nation will continue to strive for the opportunity to live in peace and dignity in your own land. This is the blessing that my family and I, along with all Britons, enjoy. For that great privilege I am deeply indebted to those in my nation who, over eighty years ago, chose to endure a great sacrifice, rather than accepting a false promise of peace. Please be assured of my continued daily prayers, and of my continued advocacy on your behalf. Every one of you means much to me and to many others around the world. I pray for God’s blessing on you all and that you will long live in a free Armenia and free Artsakh.

https://news.am/eng/news/763818.html

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

UK - June 8 2023

Is Armenia Giving up on Nagorny Karabakh?

Statements recognising Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity signal painful decisions may lie ahead.

Arshaluis Mghdesyan

FREELANCE JOURNALIST BASED IN YEREVAN

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement on the readiness to recognise the region of Nagorny Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan could end a territorial dispute that has locked the two nations in a three decades long war.

But it has also shaken Armenian society, whose fight for the region has defined its history and identity.

“The perception of the international community is increasingly leaning towards the formula that Armenia and Azerbaijan must, without reservation, recognise each other’s territorial integrity, 29,800 sq km and 86,600 sq km respectively. We agree with this logic and [we] are negotiating according to this logic,” Pashinyan stated during a four-and-half-hour press conference on May 22. He added that “a dialogue must take place between Baku and Stepanakert aimed at ensuring the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorny Karabakh”.

Prompted by journalists, he added that “those 86,600 square kilometres also include Nagorny Karabakh”.

This is the first time an Armenian leader has said that Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity includes the Armenian-populated enclave in the neighbouring South Caucasus nation.

“Artsakh [as Armenians call Karabakh] is the homeland that we are holding on to with our teeth,” Marat Hovhannisyan told IWPR. Originally from Armenia’s Kotyak region, the 27-year-old joined the army in Karabakh when he was 18: for him, the territory is the land of his ancestors.

“I cannot imagine it as part of Azerbaijan, every Armenian who sets foot here can feel how strong and how long we have fought to have our home and our statehood.”

The mountainous region has been an integral part of Armenia’s political identity since 1988 when ethnic Armenians, comprising a majority in the territory, demanded it be transferred from then Soviet Azerbaijan to Soviet Armenia.

Armenian forces won the war that broke out following the collapse of the Soviet Union, claiming nearly 30,000 lives and leaving hundreds of thousands displaced. The 1994 ceasefire gave Karabakh de facto independence, but its 150,000 residents have been living in limbo as the territory’s sovereignty was not internationally recognised.

The link between Yerevan and Stepanakert, Karabakh’s de facto capital, is deep: it is included in Armenia’s declaration of independence and recognising it as part of Azerbaijan would require this to be amended.

However, while the prime minister’s statement has undoubtedly stirred ire, this has not gone beyond angry debate on social networks, small gatherings and outrage in Stepanakert.

This marks a stark contrast with the recent past.

In 2020, tens of thousands marched in Yerevan calling for Pashinyan’s resignation after Armenia lost the Second Karabakh war and Azerbaijan regained the control of districts around Karabakh and some key towns in the territory, like Hadrut and Shushi (Shusha in Azerbaijani).

Large protests also erupted in May 2022 after Pashinyan said in parliament that Armenia had to “lower the benchmark of expectations” on the status of Karabakh. Then, as now, the opposition was not able to capitalise on the anger and the interest eventually faded.

“The prospects of subordinating Karabakh to Azerbaijan are sensitive, any idea of ceding the territory is profoundly unpopular in Armenia,” political analyst Alexander Iskandaryan, who leads the Caucasus Institute, told IWPR. “However, due to harsh post-war consequences, it is getting more admissible.”

SELF-DETERMINATION

For decades, Yerevan countered Baku’s claim of territorial integrity with the right to self-determination, stressing that Armenians in the territory had the right to determine their international political status and sovereignty without outside or external interference.

The 2020 war changed the balance of power and narratives.

The right of Karabakh to self-determination has disappeared from the rhetoric of the political elite, which is increasingly raising the need to accept a difficult reality.

Those in Karabakh do not see such painful decisions as an option.

“We have sacrificed our dearest people for Artsakh and what our heroes did in 1990 cannot be devalued…This is unacceptable,” Loretta Bakhshiyan, whose 18-year-old son Aram and her two brothers died in 2020, told IWPR in a phone conversation from Stepanakert.

Bakhshiyan has been unable to visit her son’s grave in the Yerablur military cemetery in Yerevan since December 2022 due to the blockade by Azerbaijani so-called eco-activists of the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Karabakh with Armenia.

“Artsakh must always be Armenian; I cannot imagine [it] as part of Azerbaijan. If you [Armenian government] had to recognise it as part of Azerbaijan, why did you sacrifice this generation?” the 41-year-old said.

For three decades, surveys have mirrored Bakhshiyan’s position: Armenians have only seen Karabakh either as an independent state or a part of Armenia.

Grieving mothers are the most critical voices. In mid-May, Armenian media reported an attempt to abduct Ashot Pashinyan, the premier’s 23-year-old son who also fought in the Second Karabakh war. The culprits belonged to an NGO advocating for mothers of the fallen soldiers of 2020 who have regularly staged protests against the government.

FROM DISSENT TO SOLUTION

Polls on Pashinya’s latest statement are not available, but a survey conducted by the Washington-based International Republican Institute (IRI) in early 2023 showed that 53 per cent of Armenians think that government policy towards Karabakh “regressed a lot” while 16 per cent thinks that it “somewhat regressed”.

Issues related to the region, including the blockade in Lachin corridor or the state of the army, dominate what Armenians see as their government’s biggest failure during the previous six months.

“Pashinyan’s rating has fallen sharply from 75 per cent [of his election in 2018] to 14 per cent today. This figure is below the line of legitimacy; making such an extreme decision with such a trust rating is very risky. A huge wave of dissatisfaction will rise,” Gevorg Poghosyan, sociology professor at the National Academy of Science, told IWPR, adding that a referendum should be held.

Surveys, however, do not detail how far society is ready to go to defend Karabakh, including through a new military confrontation.

“Even when iconic Karabakh leaders, such as Vazgen Manukyan and Robert Kocharyan [former Karabakh-born Armenian president] joined the opposition, there was no awakening as in 1988. People get so tired of wars that they may be ready for a ‘disgraceful peace’,” Sergey Markedonov, a Russian political scientist specialising on Caucasus issues, told IWPR.

A treaty may also not secure long-lasting peace in the region.

“The government thinks that by ceding Karabak it will solve all problems in Armenia, from security issues to economic development. But history has proved that Azerbaijan’s aggression and territorial claims are not limited to the territory… Baku did not cease its ambitions towards Armenia after the [2020] war,” Tigran Abrahamyan, an opposition MP from the I Have the Honour Alliance, told IWPR referring to the 2022 attack along a broad swathe of border areas within Armenia.

Iskandaryan agreed, pointing out that Baku did not feel under any military threat.

“Yerevan wants to protect itself with a peace treaty, Baku does not have such a need [and] accordingly, it needs something else, the full control of Karabakh. Even with declaration of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, Baku receives Karabakh only on paper,” the analyst stressed. “There are still Russian peacekeepers stationed there, there are local government institutions, even though not recognised, and Azerbaijani legislation does not extend to it.”

https://iwpr.net/global-voices/armenia-giving-nagorny-karabakh

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Humanitarian situation in Nagorno Karabakh remains tense – PM Pashinyan to Russian President

19:18, 9 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in Sochi, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Russian President Vladimir Putin - "Dear Nikol Vladimirovich, we meet regularly, I am very happy to talk once again about the current state of bilateral relations and regional issues, which we discussed in detail during the previous meeting. I am very happy to see you."

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan - "Thank you dear Vladimir Vladimirovich. First of all I want to congratulate you on the upcoming Russia Day and wish the best for the Russian Federation. Yes indeed, we meet regularly and discuss a wide range of issues. Today we will also discuss bilateral agenda and regional issues. We will also discuss the situation in Nagorno Karabakh, in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers, unfortunately the humanitarian situation there remains tense. There has been no gas and electricity in Nagorno-Karabakh for several months, the situation in the Lachin Corridor continues to be quite tense. By the way, I must emphasize that now the supplies of food to Nagorno Karabakh are carried out with the support of Russian peacekeepers, it is a limited amount of food. The humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh continues and it is also a very important issue and I am sure we will discuss it today."

The meeting of the participants of the sessions of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council and the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS countries with the President of the Russian Federation also took place.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1112944.html?fbclid=IwAR28cI77LpXhMtjcdLofUwnuOLtasxBU5UmzRmx37d4SZ5YQC7iMccHqJUE

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Council of Paris unanimously adopts a resolution to provide urgent aid to the people of Artsakh

13:40, 10 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 10, ARMENPRESS. The Council of Paris recently unanimously adopted a resolution on "the provision of urgent aid to the population of Artsakh and the people of Artsakh who have taken refuge in the Republic of Armenia", ARMENPRESS reports, the Armenian Embassy in France informed.

The resolution emphasizes that as a result of the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan since December 12, 2022, 120,000 people of Artsakh are cut off from the rest of the world, notes that on November 27, the Council of Paris adopted a call-resolution addressed to the French government regarding the recognition of the Republic of Artsakh, the assistance provided to the population of Artsakh by the various administrative territorial units of France, the many calls of support and solidarity addressed to the Armenian people by the Paris Municipality, Yerevan's membership in the International Association of Francophone Mayors, highlights providing another support to Artsakh Armenians by the city of Paris.

The City Council also authorizes the Mayor of Paris to call on other administrative territorial units of France and foreign cities that are members of the IAFM to join the initiative of urgent support, the aim of which is to support the people of Artsakh who have taken refuge in the Republic of Armenia and to deliver food to the people of Artsakh through a humanitarian convoy.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1112976.html?fbclid=IwAR29gok6qedrLyhTncObvi8mf2DJhSbUlaVVxxBX4xWXj3UmQVPDSQxHJ4o

[Yervant1]

June 13 2023

OPINION

New Karabakh peace deal is condemned to fail

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan keep announcing a deal is imminent. But whether or not they reach an agreement, there will never be peace here.

BY RAFFI K. HOVANNISIAN

JUNE 13, 2023

Raffi K. Hovannisian, Armenia’s first minister of foreign affairs, is the founding chairman of the Heritage Party.

YEREVAN — Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, followed by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this month, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan keep announcing that a peace deal over the ancient but embattled territory of Mountainous Karabakh is imminent.

Whether or not a peace deal is ever reached, however, peace itself is condemned to fail.

I should know

In March 1992, as the newly independent Armenia’s first minister of foreign affairs, I negotiated the original international mediation for peace, security and status in Karabakh.

As the Soviet Union began to crumble, Karabakh — or Artsakh in Armenian — had declared its independence from Soviet Azerbaijan, and then the USSR in toto. And the deadly war that ensued, whereby Baku endeavored to reverse the rights to self-determination and sovereignty by force — rights that Armenians had exercised under controlling Soviet legislation as well as the Montevideo Convention on the rights of states — created a complex situation.

But we got to work.

At the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (CSCE, later OSCE) 1992 meeting of foreign ministers in Helsinki, the summit decided — by consensus — to accept the charge of hosting the Karabakh peace process in order to determine, pursuant to the precepts of the Helsinki Final Act, the region’s ultimate status at a future conference in Minsk.

Hammered out by required consensus and inspired by the specific mandate of achieving sustainable peace, the final document contained three key points:

The first was to take the conflict outside of the East-West axis — or, rather, place it neatly into a new cooperation zone — and, ultimately, bring in the United States, Russia and also France to co-chair what later came to be known as the Minsk Group.

The next was to respect human rights and dignity, bringing a halt to Azerbaijan’s ongoing land blockade between Armenia and Karabakh by opening a humanitarian corridor.

Finally, to guarantee the success of the peace process, was ensuring the participation of not only Armenia and Azerbaijan but also the elected officials of Mountainous Karabakh.

So, when a tripartite ceasefire among Azerbaijan, Karabakh and Armenia was eventually agreed in May 1994, there was real hope in its longevity, hope that a final diplomatic solution would be had — and that the Minsk Conference might, indeed, at last be convened.

But alas, there were other plans.

After growing tensions and skirmishes along the border, under the cover of COVID-19 and the 2020 U.S. presidential elections, in September of that year, Azerbaijan unleashed a multipronged war not only upon what it considered its “breakaway” Republic of Mountainous Karabakh, but against the Republic of Armenia as well — something that, 105 years after the Armenian Genocide, many in the country feel would have been impossible without the military, intelligence, logistical and special-ops support of ethnic cousin and NATO ally Turkey.

Russia then brokered a ceasefire in November, introducing a peacekeeping operation and leaving Azerbaijan occupying nearly half of Karabakh and swathes of the sovereign Republic of Armenia.

This was a reversal of the first negotiation point — taking the conflict outside of the East-West axis.

Then, the Lachin corridor was shut down. And as a result, the Artsakh Republic and its 120,000 surviving residents — a quarter of them children — have been left in a choke hold, with Russian peacekeepers looking ambivalently on for nearly six months now.

This was a reversal of the second point — respecting human rights and dignity.

And this isn’t just a flagrant violation of the original CSCE/OSCE mandate either, it also flies in the face of a binding judgment by the International Court of Justice, which demanded Azerbaijan open the corridor and return it to its status quo ante, pending a final settlement of the matter.

Crucially, the recent turn of events has seen Karabakh’s Armenian administration lose its seat at the table too. Far from the right to self-determination and its guarantee, and respect for a nation’s legitimate path to sovereignty, today Mountainous Karabakh is under attack today from all sides.

And this final reversal was of the most vital negotiation point — the right of the Armenians of Karabakh to take part in decisions about their own destiny.

Yet, somehow, a deal over their fate is soon to be closed. And this deal is currently being negotiated on the one side by Ilham Aliyev — Azerbaijan’s dictator-president, who is using oil-and-gas leverage abroad to dictate terms — and on the other by Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s own democrat-turned-petty dictator who refused to abdicate after being defeated in the disastrous war, and is now preparing to cling to to power by capitulating to Azerbaijan.

If Aliyev and Pashinyan do not get prison, they will win a peace prize. Yet still, there will never be peace in Karabakh.

https://www.politico.eu/article/new-karabakh-azerbaijan-armenia-peace-deal-is-condemned-to-fail/

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Armenia voices ‘serious concerns’ that Azerbaijan could be preparing new aggression against Nagorno Karabakh

13:15, 13 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has serious concerns that Azerbaijan could be preparing the ground for new aggressive actions and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Foreign Ministry of Armenia said in a statement on June 13.

Below is the full statement released by the foreign ministry.

“For a long time, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has been spreading daily fake news about ceasefire violations by the Defense Army of Nagorno-Karabakh in the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh.

It is noteworthy that in the information materials published by the Russian peacekeepers, ceasefire violations only by Azerbaijan were recorded.

Taking into account the already well established experience of Azerbaijan to provide "informational support" before carrying out the next acts of use of force and to artificially ascribe responsibility for future actions to the other party from the outset, the Republic of Armenia has serious concerns that the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan, despite all its own obligations, is preparing the ground for another aggressive actions and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

We call on the peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation to strictly follow the observance of the ceasefire regime and investigate all the incidents voiced by Azerbaijan, publicly presenting the entire situation on the ground.

At the same time, the Republic of Armenia reiterates its position on the necessity to send an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh, which can also provide reliable and unbiased information both about the situation in the line of contact between the sides and about the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, the latter resulting from Azerbaijan’s disruption of the functioning of the Lachin corridor through setting up an illegal checkpoint in violation of the regime established under November 9, 2020 Statement, blocking natural gas and electricity supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh as well as targeting by the Azerbaijani servicemen of citizens carrying out agricultural works and their machinery.

The Republic of Armenia is convinced that addressing the issues of rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh within the framework of an international mechanism through the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue is urgent and should not be delayed, and calls on the international community to support this process.”

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1113127.html?fbclid=IwAR1y0Uyi_33BY36VTqj2LYHXF8fPYp1exCYz7fdpiZ0lar29vErc7diqaHY

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Azerbaijan violates Nagorno Karabakh ceasefire

10:24, 19 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 19, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani forces violated the Nagorno Karabakh ceasefire from 09:30, June 18 until 01:08, June 19 in two directions, the Ministry of Defense of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) said in a statement.

Azerbaijani forces used small arms fire in the directions of Martuni and Martakert.

Nagorno Karabakh did not suffer casualties.

The Nagorno Karabakh authorities reported the violation to the Russian peacekeeping contingent command.

As of 09:15, June 19 the situation on the line of contact was relatively stable, the ministry said.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1113558.html?fbclid=IwAR3D8s1hBTqzhQjrTv8A2nt50frEtlkRuXxc_-ieEw-4yCltN_bBN4mROiI

[Yervant1]

June 20 2023

Keep up the struggle for Nagorno Karabakh, Baroness Cox urges Armenians

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Christian Solidarity International

June 20, 2023, 14:32 GMT

Joel Veldkamp

Warns Armenian Christian population faces the increasing possibility of ethnic and religious cleansing

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, June 20, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the UK House of Lords and long-standing friend of Armenia, has sent a video message to the Armenian people urging them to stand firm in support of their homeland despite the political powers arrayed against them.

Lady Cox is the founder president of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), a strategic partner of Christian Solidarity International (CSI).

Cox says she is “deeply saddened” by reports that the Republic of Armenia is being pressured by international powers to accept Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno Karabakh, or Artsakh.

“In return for a so-called peace treaty and trade agreement, the people of Artsakh – who have already endured so much suffering – would be expected to surrender their international right of self-determination. Over 120,000 indigenous Armenians would become citizens of an anti-Armenian authoritarian state, with an appalling track record of human rights violations.”

Since 2020, Azeri military forces have advanced into the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia, Cox says, and there are frequent reports of new military incursions.

With the blockade of the Lachin corridor in December 2022, a humanitarian catastrophe is being played out within Nagorno Karabakh, she says, and its indigenous Armenian Christian population faces the increasing possibility of ethnic and religious cleansing from their historic lands.

“…We must face the disturbing possibility that the Armenian Genocide never ended. There are those who want to complete it, and those who are unable – or unwilling – to stop it. It is quite possible that what is done to Artsakh will also, in time, be done to the Republic of Armenia,” Cox warns.

“If the treaty now being negotiated between Azerbaijan and Armenia results in the surrender of Artsakh – then lasting peace cannot be guaranteed.”

Referencing her first visit to Armenia over 30 years ago, she says that the struggle for Nagorno Karabakh became the catalyst for independence of the Republic of Armenia. “To this day, it remains an important symbol of hope and unity among all Armenians, across every part of the nation and diaspora.”

“At this critical moment in your great nation’s history, it is my hope and prayer that all Armenians – across every part of the nation and diaspora – will continue to uphold the struggle for Artsakh as a symbol of unity."

“My dear friends, thank you for holding a frontline of faith and freedom for the rest of the world.”


Baroness Caroline Cox and John Eibner, International President of CSI, are the authors of Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh. This report on the last attempt by Azerbaijan to drive the Armenian Christians of Nagorno Karabakh out of their ancient homeland as the Soviet Union collapsed is based on historical research and on-the-spot fact-finding between 1990 and 1994.

At the end of May, CSI launched a special campaign, The Cost of Silence, to highlight the growing threat of genocide facing Nagorno Karabakh’s Christian population.

Joel Veldkamp
Christian Solidarity International
+41 76 258 15 74
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A message to the people of Armenia by Baroness Caroline Cox (with Armenian subtitles)

Watch the video at https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/640487155/keep-up-the-struggle-for-nagorno-karabakh-baroness-cox-urges-armenians

READ ALSO

https://anglican.ink/2023/06/20/keep-up-the-struggle-for-nagorno-karabakh-baroness-cox-urges-armenia/