cease-fire violations by azeris

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

One day ErDOGans arrogance will bite his ass so bad that he will defecate from his mouth!

Foreign Policy
Oct 8 2020

Is Turkey’s Military Overstretched? If Turkey intervenes in Nagorno-Karabakh, it would only be the latest entry in Ankara’s growing list of military adventures.
BY ALLISON MEAKEMOCTOBER 8, 2020, 5:09 PM
In the escalating conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Caucasus enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, most global powers have called for a negotiated cease-fire rather than backing one side.
Most powers, that is, except Turkey. Nearly immediately after clashes began in late September, Ankara came to the aid of its allies in Azerbaijan, supplying arms, propaganda, and allegedly fighters transferred from Syria. Rather than working toward a modicum of stability, Ankara seems intent on backing Baku—enraging its NATO allies.
Turkey’s pursuit of greater influence in the Caucasus, particularly in a region contested by ethnic Armenians and ethnic Turks, is unsurprising. If Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan does indeed decide to deploy his military in Nagorno-Karabakh—which is internationally recognized as sovereign Azerbaijani territory despite being home to a majority Armenian population and being occupied and regarded as an independent state by Armenia since a war in the 1990s—it would only be the latest in a string of Turkish strategic entanglements stretching from the Mediterranean to Central Asia.
Here’s an overview of everywhere Turkey’s military is active right now.
1. Libya
In the Libyan civil war, which began in 2014, Turkey supports the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), which is based in Tripoli but maintains nominal control over the country. The GNA is facing off against the Libyan National Army, which is led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar and based in Benghazi. Haftar’s forces are backed by Russia, France, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.
Turkey’s involvement in Libya is inextricably linked to its role in the Syrian civil war, as well as its skirmishes with other Mediterranean states such as Greece and Cyprus over the sea’s rich natural gas and petroleum reserves. In addition to supplying the GNA with arms and drone technology, Ankara has sent thousands of Syrian militants to Tripoli fight on its behalf.
2. Syria
Though Turkey ostensibly became involved in the Syrian civil war in 2011 to oppose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and in 2015 to fight the Islamic State, its role in the conflict has in many ways become an extension of its domestic war against Kurdish militants.
The Kurds in northern Syria, many of whom are a part of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) have been critical in warding off Islamic State forces. Turkey, however, is intent on countering Kurdish militants within and beyond its borders. Ankara regards the YPG as an extension of the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.
Since 1984, the Turkish military has been intent on quashing a PKK insurgency in its southeast, where Kurds have long demanded more cultural and political autonomy for Turkey’s 15 million-strong Kurdish minority population. A tenuous two-year cease-fire between the Turkish government and the PKK collapsed in 2015, and it is estimated that at least 3,589 Kurds and 1,261 Turkish forces have been killed in the conflict since.
Now, Turkey has effectively occupied swaths of Northern Syria and continues to wage offensives against the region’s Kurds while seeking to create a so-called safe zone to stop additional waves of refugees from entering Turkey.
3. Northern Cyprus
Turkey intervened in Northern Cyprus in 1974 and established a de facto state: the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It is not recognized by the international community, which considers the Republic of Cyprus to be the island’s sole sovereign entity (apart from two military bases belonging to the U.K.). Nicosia, the Cypriot capital, remains divided.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan attempted to resolve the dispute between Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus in a series of peace talks in the early 2000s, but these did not ultimately lead to any meaningful outcome.
4. Eastern Mediterranean
In recent months, the Turkish navy has been active in waters recognized by the international community as belonging to Greece, a move compelled by Turkey’s thirst for natural gas. The moves have angered NATO members, which fear an escalation of tensions between the two historical foes.
Turkey’s moves in the Eastern Mediterranean are driven by the so-called Blue Homeland policy, which disputes several international agreements and claims many Greek islands and waters as Turkey’s own.
The standoff has taken on heightened importance due to the European Union’s attempts to incentivize Turkey to stop unauthorized migrants from crossing the sea from Turkey by boat.
5. Qatar and Iraq
Turkey in 2019 announced the completion of a military base in Qatar, a milestone for a country that otherwise enjoys few allies in the Gulf. (Qatar is the lone Gulf member of the Turkish-backed coalition supporting the GNA in Libya.) Turkey’s base in Qatar joins existing bases in Bashiqa, Iraq—located in Iraqi Kurdistan—and Mogadishu.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/10/08/turkey-military-overstretched-nagorno-karabakh-turkish-military-presence/?fbclid=IwAR2P0-Xv1df2HhgT0awLDSOOXHtXUZmOnvpUA1entvgtezOKi-k4cyx1ha4

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

This tells a lot about the fake victories on the battlefield from azeriland.

Buzz Feed
Oct 8 2020

It Took Facebook More Than A Year — And A Whistleblower — To Remove A Troll Farm Connected To Azerbaijan's Ruling Party
Former Facebook data scientist Sophie Zhang said it took the company a year to pursue an investigation into fake accounts and comments in Azerbaijan.
Craig SilvermanBuzzFeed News Reporter Ryan MacBuzzFeed News Reporter

Weeks after firing an internal whistleblower who called for Facebook to crack down on a massive network of fake activity connected to Azerbaijan's ruling party, Facebook has removed more than 1,000 accounts and close to 8,000 pages.
Facebook linked the operation to the Youth Union of the governing New Azerbaijani Party. It said the accounts and pages were used to post comments that attacked opposition figures and independent media, and boost the country’s ruling party. This disclosure confirms what Sophie Zhang, a former Facebook data scientist, wrote in an explosive internal memo obtained by BuzzFeed News that said the company was ignoring manipulation of its platforms by political parties and heads of government.
On the day of her departure, she called the fake behavior in Azerbaijan her “greatest unfinished business.”
On the day of her departure, she called the fake behavior in Azerbaijan her “greatest unfinished business,” and criticized Facebook for taking a year to investigate her findings. Last month, Facebook fired Zhang, and she posted the 6,600-word memo on an internal message board shortly before she left.
Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of security policy, said on a press call Thursday that “Facebook identified this network after an internal investigation,” but did not cite Zhang by name.
BuzzFeed News was not able to ask a question on the call, but sent a follow-up email asking why it took the company a year to begin looking into the activity in Azerbaijan identified by Zhang. A spokesperson declined to comment on the record.
Guy Rosen, Facebook's VP of integrity, previously dismissed Zhang's work as only being about "fake likes."
"Like any team in the industry or government, we prioritize stopping the most urgent and harmful threats globally. Fake likes is not one of them," he said on Twitter.
Gleicher said the close to 8,000 pages used in the operation were set up to look like personal profiles and were used to leave comments.
“This network appeared to engage individuals in Azerbaijan to manage pages with the sole purpose of leaving supportive and critical commentary on pages of international and local media, public figures including opposition, and the ruling party of Azerbaijan, to create a perception of widespread criticism of some views and widespread support of others,” he said.
In her memo, Zhang said the country’s ruling party “utilized thousands of inauthentic assets... to harass the opposition en masse.”
The militaries of Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia are currently fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a dispute in which a reported 300 people have been killed.
In a separate announcement, Facebook said it removed 200 Facebook accounts, 55 pages, and 76 Instagram accounts that were part of an operation run by Rally Forge, a US marketing firm, on behalf of Turning Point USA and Inclusive Conservation Group. Turning Point USA is a prominent pro-Trump student group.
The accounts masqueraded as right-wing and, at times, left-wing Americans to comment on news articles and posts on the platform, according to Facebook.
Gleicher said that along with using fake accounts, the operation used accounts “whose names were slight variations of the names of the people behind them and whose sole activity on our platform was associated with this deceptive campaign.” He referred to these as “thinly veiled personas.”
The operation spent close to $1 million on ads, according to Facebook. The takedown came after the Washington Post revealed the fake activity benefitting Turning Point USA. Facebook said it has banned Rally Forge from its platform.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-azerbaijan-troll-farm?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfsharefacebook&ref=mobile_share&fbclid=IwAR0aJAA57i2MY3BlUS7gC5irz2xH2KXjSk4Pk2RN6JCBX_YRQdXyXwnd_cU

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

One day when your boat is rocked, who do you gonna call?

Middle East Eye
Oct 8 2020

Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict: How Israel and Turkey became strange bedfellows
When Israeli-Turkish military cooperation cooled, the Israelis turned to Baku. Now Nagorno-Karabakh has thrown them all together
A view shows Ghazanchetsots Cathedral damaged by recent shelling during a military conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in Shushi (Shusha) (Reuters)

By
Yossi Melman
in
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Caucasus war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region creates strange bedfellows and leaves sectarian considerations at the door.
Though Azerbaijan is predominantly Shia, Christian Armenia is favoured by Iran, a third of whose population is of Azeri descent, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Even more unusual is the strange coupling of Turkey and Israel, which are hostile to one another both diplomatically and in terms of security. Yet both states, dominated by their Sunni and Jewish communities respectively, support and arm Azerbaijan.
Turkish F-16s kept in Azerbaijan 'as deterrent against Armenian attacks'
Read More »
Russia, which has a military air base in Armenia, repeats its policy in Syria by working with several parties at once.
The war - which has seen the most intensified military clashes since the 1988-1994 conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan - broke out on 27 September. Both sides accuse each other of violating the fragile ceasefire.
During the current conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, in which 300 uniformed troops and civilians on both sides have been killed so far, Israel has increased its military assistance to Azerbaijan.
At least four Ilyushin Il-76 planes, operated by the Azerbaijani cargo airline Silk Way, which serves Baku’s defence ministry, have landed and taken off from the Israeli Uvda military air base in southern Israel. According to flight regulations, that is the only airport from which planes loaded with explosives are allowed to take off.
The Silk Way fleet flew directly from Baku to Uvda and back, according to its flight path documented on various websites that monitor air traffic. Some of these planes have also flown from Baku to Ankara and Istanbul and back over the last two weeks.
Turkish ties
Since 1957, Israel and Turkey have developed secret but close relations, and became strategic allies coordinating with American and British interests in the region. Their common enemies were first Egypt (until the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty), Syria and later the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Israeli intelligence community - Mossad and the military intelligence - developed very intimate ties with the Turkish MIT agency and Ankara’s military. Israel had a listening post in Turkey and the two sides worked hand in hand to spy on their common enemy Syria. Occasionally, Turkey was assisted by Mossad in the battle against Turkish Kurds.
Over the years, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, Israel’s defence industries sold arms to Turkey, which included intelligence equipment, missiles avionics and upgraded tanks and planes. The overall volume of the deals was nearly $10bn.
Israeli-made cluster bombs used by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, says Amnesty
Read More »
Ironically, among the systems sold to Turkey were drones and technology manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which helped Ankara build a comparable industry. Turkish Bayraktar drones are now in action in Nagorno-Karabakh’s battlefields, as well as in Iraq, Syria and Libya.
Turkey, which once had a zero-conflict policy with its neighbours, is currently in conflict with several of them: Syria, Russia, Iraq, Israel and Greece. The beginning of the 21st century and the emergence of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Turkey’s strongman saw Ankara's gradual move away from its previous strategy.
Erdogan reduced Turkey’s relations with the West and strengthened ties to Qatar, the Hamas movement and Muslim Brotherhood branches across the region. Meanwhile, it is involved in civil wars and military or intelligence interventions in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Somalia.
This shift in strategy included severing Turkey’s military and intelligence cooperation with Israel, though trade and touristic ties continue to flourish.
Cashing in
Searching for a new market for its military armaments and for a new Muslim ally in the region, Israel found Azerbaijan. Particularly since 2010, the two countries have formed a strategic alliance, backed by the US, against their mutual foe Iran.
Mossad chiefs, senior military officers and cabinet ministers frequently visit Baku, and their Azeri counterparts reciprocate with meetings in Tel Aviv. Four years ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on his way to Kazakhstan, stopped over for seven hours in Baku.
It was sufficient time for the Azeri president, Ilham Aliyev, an autocrat known for violating human rights and harshly suppressing any opposition, to reveal openly for the first time that Azerbaijan had purchased weapons from Israel to the tune of $5bn. Since then, the volume has increased and is estimated now to be at $7bn.
All Israel’s major military and security firms benefit from Azerbaijan’s eagerness to be armed to the teeth. According to some reports, IAI, Elbit, Rafael and other smaller defence companies are selling Baku just about anything. This includes artillery, missiles, naval vessels, intelligence equipment and more.
Almost all the Israeli companies that make drones, including attack or self-destructing kamikaze or suicide ones, have sold their wares to the Azeri army. Armenian spokesmen have said in the past that some of these, including ones made by Aeronautics Ltd., were downed during incidents along the border with Azerbaijan.
All Israel’s major military and security firms benefit from Azerbaijan’s eagerness to be armed to the teeth
Other reports claimed that Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile and rocket system was also sold to Azerbaijan, and it may well be that it is already being used in the battlefields in Nagorno-Karabakh to intercept Russian-made rockets launched by Armenia.
To cover and balance some of the rising cost of the weapons, Israel buys oil from Azerbaijan.
Moreover, according to foreign sources, Mossad established a station in Azerbaijan, serving as the “eyes, ears and springboard” for monitoring Iran. According to these reports, Azerbaijan prepared an airfield that would assist Israel in case it attacked Iran. Other reports claimed that the Iranian nuclear archive that was stolen by Mossad agents in Tehran two and a half years ago was smuggled to Israel through Azerbaijan.
Spokesmen at the Israeli defence and foreign ministries declined to comment, while a spokeswoman from Armenia’s ministry of foreign affairs called upon Israel to stop military sales to Azerbaijan.
As usual with Israel when it comes to its security interests, there is no room for other considerations such as human rights, universal values and morality. For years Israel - which considers itself to be the homeland of the Jewish people and the bulwark against a repeat of the Holocaust - has refused to recognise the Armenian Genocide during the First World War.
The Israeli pretext was to not anger Turkey. But even now, when Erdogan is bashing Israel almost daily and the need to placate him has subsided, Israel still refuses, using an old-new excuse: Azeris are friends of Turkey, so don’t rock the boat.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/azerbaijan-armenia-conflict-israel-turkey-strange-bedfellows?fbclid=IwAR0aJAA57i2MY3BlUS7gC5irz2xH2KXjSk4Pk2RN6JCBX_YRQdXyXwnd_cU

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

Asia Times

Turkey, Russia entente under fire in Nagorno-Karabakh
By MK Bhadrakumar
October 9, 2020

Russia and the West have rare opportunity to corner Turkey in a
'Caucasian chalk circle' of chaos and chance

The following is the third and concluding installment in a series on
the regional power dynamics that produced the conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh and the diplomatic efforts to contain it.

The United States and Russia are increasingly in each other’s
crosshairs on the global stage, be it in the Arctic, the Black Sea or
the Middle East. But they have joined hands with alacrity to take a
common stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is patently loaded
against Turkey.

On October 2, at a hastily arranged “working meeting” in Geneva,
Russian National Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and US
National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien discussed issues privately
“in a bid to normalize bilateral relations and strengthen the
international security.”

This is the first time the two countries’ top national security
officials have met in two years.

The Kremlin watched with dismay Turkey’s interventions in Syria and
Libya. Russia feels helpless about the Turkish occupation of northern
Syria and is instead obliged to accept Ankara’s help to bring
stability. In Libya, their respective proxy groups are fighting for
the upper hand.

There is also a lot of frustration in Western capitals over Turkey’s
Islamist policies and neo-Ottomanism, its military intervention in
Libya and provocative moves in the Eastern Mediterranean. Western
powers and Russia now get a rare opportunity to corner President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan within a “Caucasian chalk circle” of chaos and chance.

But how far they will succeed remains to be seen. Erdogan has shown
himself to be a masterly player of brinkmanship. The Moscow pundits
claim that the current happenings in Transcaucasia do not really
impinge on Russian security interests or its so-called Greater Eurasia
Partnership project.

But the Russian security establishment must be worried. Just two days
before the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted, Russian intelligence
chief Sergei Naryshkin had listed Georgia as among the countries from
where the US Central Intelligence Agency, Pentagon and the State
Department have been training activists and indulging in the “dirtiest
methods for rocking the boat in Belarus.” Naryshkin is a close
associate of President Vladimir Putin.

Now, with the success of the color revolutions in Georgia and Armenia,
Azerbaijan is the only remaining part of Transcaucasia that is outside
the US “sphere of influence.” Some stirrings of protests have appeared
in Baku in the past but the Azerbaijani leadership managed to squash
them.

Unlike France or the US, Turkey is not a newcomer to Caucasian
politics. The modern Turkish state under Kemal Ataturk turned its back
on the Caucasus and stuck to its new credo that Islam and imperial
heritage only led to backwardness and restrained Turkey’s
modernization.

However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkey began
rediscovering its severed historical, ethnic, cultural, linguistic and
religious ties with the Caucasus and Central Asia. With the retreat of
“Kemalism” in Turkey, Erdogan switched to a more proactive and
independent policy in the regions that used to be part of the “Ottoman
space.”

Thus the fraternal ties with Azerbaijan (a Turkic-speaking country)
morphed into a strategic alliance. Turkey has become a provider of
security and a guarantor of stability. Turkey and Azerbaijan are also
involved in several joint energy projects and infrastructure programs
(for example the Baku-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Kars railway line).

The Caucasian diaspora is an important factor, too. Around 10% of
Turkey’s population are of Caucasian origin – refugees fleeing Czarist
Russia’s advance – who form a very influential political constituency
today, represented well in the Turkish army, parliament, media and
elsewhere.

The stakes are exceedingly high on the Transcaucasian chessboard with
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s advance into the Black Sea;
Caspian oil; the volatile North Caucasus region (Russia’s “soft
underbelly”); Iran’s ethnic-Azeri minority community; Israeli
presence, to name a few.

Tensions over Transcaucasia will be felt in Syria. Turkey and Russia
do not see the Syrian settlement through the same lens. Both Moscow
and Ankara are also looking for opportunities to strengthen their
standing as regional superpowers in the Middle East and the Black Sea
region.

Meanwhile, the unresolved conflicts in the Transcaucasian region
include the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which may look
relatively calm as of now, thanks to the restraint that Georgia has
exercised in taking action to regain its territorial integrity that
Russia violated in the Russo-Georgian war in August 2008.

But Russian revanchism strengthened Tbilisi’s ties with the US, NATO
and the European Union. Georgia’s pro-Western course set by Mikheil
Saakashvili (following the color revolution in 2003) has become
irreversible. Simply put, Transcaucasia is still very much a “work in
progress” in the geopolitical rivalry between Russia and the US.

Russian-Turkish collision course?

The tensions have continued, notwithstanding the shift in attention to
events in Ukraine’s Donbas and Crimea’s annexation by Russia. The US
still advocates “energy pluralism” in Transcaucasia, that is, finding
alternative ways to supply oil and gas to Europe as well as creating a
platform for conducting its policy to contain Tehran’s and Moscow’s
ambitions.

Equally, the security of Russia’s seven North Caucasian (Muslim)
republics cannot be sequestered effectively from the state of affairs
in its Transcaucasian neighborhood to the south.

To be sure, the spillover from the Ukraine crisis has far from played
out and the competition between European and Eurasian integration is
only going to intensify in the Transcaucasian region. Georgia has
opted to enter free-trade agreements with the EU. Armenia, on the
contrary, decided to join the Moscow-backed Eurasian Economic Union.

But Azerbaijan has so far tried to balance between various integration
projects, and the current conflict has become a defining moment. Both
Armenia and Azerbaijan have choices to make. They will likely view
integration as an additional tool for gaining the upper hand in their
brutal ethnic and political conflict.

The crisis in Ukraine has also led NATO and Georgia to intensify their
contacts. The roadmap plotted by the US has brought NATO into the
Black Sea, where it is lately consolidating a military presence to
challenge Russia’s historical predominance in the region.

On September 29, after talks at NATO Headquarters in Brussels with the
visiting Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Gakharia, the
secretary-general of the alliance Jens Stoltenberg described Georgia
as “one of NATO’s most important partners” and referred to close
cooperation on the Black Sea security. Gakharia responded, “We see
Black Sea security as the window of opportunity for Georgia, for
deepening the cooperation with NATO.”

From the Western perspective, therefore, any unraveling of the
Turkish-Russian entente due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be a
geopolitical windfall. Western analysts are expecting that latent
contradictions in the Turkish-Russian entente will surface.

Paradoxically, Turkey’s current actions in the Caucasus, which are
often interpreted as an element of its foreign policy, also hold the
potential to transform as part of the Western effort to expand its
regional footprint in Eurasia to complete the arc of encirclement
around Russia.

Thus the US and its EU allies have all along supported the trilateral
cooperation among Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

An influential American strategist on Russia, Fiona Hill, wrote in a
Brookings report in 2015 titled titled “Retracing the Caucasian
Circle: Considerations and constraints for US, EU and Turkish
engagement in the South Caucasus” that Washington and its allies
regarded Turkey as being part of the West alongside the EU and the US
in regional diplomacy and Turkey’s actions in South Caucasus were part
of the Western agenda.

Indeed, Turkey shares interests with Georgia (and Ukraine) and they
are working together on energy-pipeline projects. Turkish businesses
are actively involved in both countries. Broadly, Ankara has moved in
tandem with NATO while pursuing its regional ambitions in Georgia and
Ukraine.

Having said that, Azerbaijan has a troubled relationship with the US
and has long viewed Russia as a counterweight. Ideally, Russia needs
to find a balance between Armenia, a strategic ally, and Azerbaijan, a
strategic partner.

This is where the role of Iran in the Transcaucasian question comes
into play. Tehran has been successful in keeping friendly ties with
all three states in Transcaucasia. Iran is a unique regional player
with truly independent foreign policies and devoid of any ancient
imperial hangups.

Iran is fundamentally wedded to the principle that such conflicts as
Nagorno-Karabakh should be resolved without interference from players
outside the region. Its position is closer to Russia than to Turkey.
But Russia’s dilemma appears to be that it is hesitant to break the
existing status quo in Transcaucasia until it resolves the Syrian and
Ukrainian issues.

Ankara’s active involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has
provoked the Armenian lobby in the US Congress as well as in Europe,
primarily in France. At some point in the future, the crisis in
Transcaucasia could open the door to more active involvement by the US
and the EU, including through a peacekeeping operation.

In immediate terms, the risk lies in the unseemly rush of Azerbaijan
to create new facts on the ground. The growing number of incidents on
the contact line along its border with Armenia (outside
Nagorno-Karabakh) could lead to some flashpoint forcing Russia or
Turkey to take unilateral action. Iran has cautioned against it.

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/turkey-russia-entente-under-fire-in-nagorno-karabakh/__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!4ur5tLlRQv1Esa_uQv3-cxvYzHFEeQ_GUGr6XeUHkZqXaAc-gUSCb8cuixRstA$

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

Asia Times

Russia checkmates Turkey on Caucasus chessboard
By Richard Giragosian
October 9, 2020

Turkey's military aid to Azerbaijan is approaching a red line that
could put it on a collision course with Russia

YEREVAN – The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were
expected in Moscow on Friday following a late-night summons by Russian
President Vladimir Putin, who is seeking a ceasefire in
Nagorno-Karabakh.

“After a series of phone conversations with Azerbaijani President
Ilkham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the
president of the Russian Federation is making a call to cease the
current hostilities in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone for
humanitarian reasons, with the aim to carry out a swap of dead bodies
and prisoners,” the Kremlin said.

“In order to hold consultations on those issues, mediated by the
Russian foreign minister, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and
Armenia are invited to Moscow on October 9,” it added.

The power to convene the top diplomats of the two former Soviet
nations – seemingly overnight – represents a literal checkmate against
Turkey, which was seen as the driving force behind Azerbaijan’s
September 27 offensive.

Days earlier, in a rare demonstration of diplomatic cooperation, the
foreign ministers of Russia, France and the United States issued a
statement condemning “the unprecedented and dangerous escalation of
violence in and outside of the Nagorno-Karabakh zone” and calling the
new war an “unacceptable threat” to regional stability.

But as the attacker, Azerbaijani has not been alone in refusing to
accept any demands for a ceasefire. Rather, it was Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has emerged as an even more ferocious
obstacle and formidable opponent to any suggestion of an end to the
fighting.

After a sweeping military offensive by Azerbaijani forces launched on
September 27, combat operations escalated with each passing day. After
seizing and securing territory from the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani
assault only deepened, driven by an insatiable appetite for more of
the territory it claims as its own and which the United Nations
recognizes as such.

For the Turkish leader, full diplomatic backing and direct military
support for the Azerbaijani offensive stem from Turkey’s traditional
role as a patron state for Azerbaijan.

Ankara, after losing that role to Moscow in recent years, is now
intent on restoring the lost glory and regaining its former role as
the leading regional power.

Yet Turkey’s power play had both wider implications and high risk, as
the Turkish military assistance to Azerbaijan was quickly approaching
a red line that put it on a clear collision course with Russia.

Russia is bound to Armenia by its own security pact, and so the danger
of a proxy war between Ankara and Moscow continues to loom large.

Turkey’s calculated risk

Turkish President Erdogan is as much the cool calculating risk-taker
and chess player as his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin.
And to his credit, Erdogan was cunning enough to sense an opportunity
of timing.

As both opportunity and opening, this bold Turkish power play in the
Caucasus was based on a strategy consisting of several elements.

First, from a Turkish perspective, Russia was already bogged down in
Syria and Ukraine, with a broader burden of draining Western sanctions
and geopolitical solitude. And faced with the Kremlin’s embarrassing
mismanagement of the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei
Navalny, Turkish leaders saw an opportunity in a distracted Russia.

In that context, the Azerbaijani offensive was as much a surprise for
Russia as it was for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

A second element of this Turkish strategy was also based on the
prudent perception of Western distraction. As the successful timing of
the Azerbaijani attacks only reaffirmed, the combination of the
Covid-19 pandemic as the pressing priority for the European Union and
the chaotic domestic political environment in a Washington already
prone to chaos and conflict, had little expectation and even less fear
of a robust Western response to his intervention.

The third element of this Turkish strategy of projecting power in the
Caucasus is rooted in Erdogan’s larger agenda. This broader context
reveals a deeper and even more destructive ambition that far exceeds
any localized objectives.

Rather, it is Turkish power and position in Syria, Libya and the
Eastern Mediterranean that are driving this ongoing reassertion of
strength.

This bolder Turkish strategy will be neither satisfied not sated by
Azerbaijani military gains in the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh. More
likely, Ankara will demonstrate an even more resolute resistance to a
prolonged ceasefire than Azerbaijan.

And while Turkey may soon seek to garner transactional gains in a
possible bid to barter with Russia, it has already empowered and
enabled its ally.

Backlash and blowback

A key risk for Turkey is that its unconditional support for Azerbaijan
could produce a dangerously overconfident and reckless ally, which may
exceed the limits of distraction and geopolitical disinterest.

President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s proverbial strongman who
inherited power from his father in 2003 and has appointed his wife as
vice-president, appears determined to ride the tiger of war and
conflict.

This danger is already evident, as Azerbaijan’s indiscriminate drone
attacks on cities in Karabakh and its apparent use of outlawed cluster
bombs, flagged by Amnesty International, has demonstrably damaged the
standing and perception of both Azerbaijan and Turkey.

An additional risk is that of backlash and blowback from Baku. The
possible loss of control over Turkey’s erstwhile supplicant state
Azerbaijan is only an increasingly likely scenario given Azerbaijan’s
frustration in returning to any secondary role subordinate to Turkey.

As important as Turkish military help has been in this recent
fighting, Azerbaijani leaders have painstakingly argued that they do
not need any outside help, neither from the Turkish-organized influx
of mercenaries from Syria nor the contribution of Turkish airpower.

And there is an added degree of potential domestic instability in
Azerbaijan, especially after now well-documented reports that Turkey
has recruited more than 1,000 Syrian mercenaries to boost and beef up
the Azerbaijani attacks on Nagorno-Karabakh.

That influx of Sunni combatants into the Azerbaijan ranks may not
easily follow Azerbaijani commands or meet expectations. And as
logistically difficult such recruitment and import of such fighters
may have been, getting them to leave may be even a more difficult
challenge, for both Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Azerbaijani President Aliyev has been stoking, and forced to contend
with, ever-rising domestic demands and expectations for victory. Yet
once the current military censorship ends, the true measure of losses
and casualties may undermine claims of victory and triumph.

The danger of the tide turning against the Azerbaijani side is
increasingly possible the longer the attacks on the mountainous region
continue, given the precariousness of supply lines and losses of
equipment.

As such, Putin’s ceasefire demand comes at a critical moment. With his
swift summons, the Russian leader has emerged as the Grandmaster of
the Caucasus, diplomatically isolating his Turkish opponent.

But as impressive as the Russian move was, neither the Azerbaijani
threat to resume hostilities at the next opportunity nor the Turkish
hunger for a rematch in the next round of confrontation will diminish.

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/russia-checkmates-turkey-on-caucasus-chessboard/__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-cdqye0iXn7aq9KH80x0JM-M5N75eGZ4N1Eijumye7orKaSLhKAM-joTyQ5PZQ$

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

The Moscow Times

Oct 7 2020

‘I Want to Join the Final Battle.’ Armenians in Russia Flock to Karabakh Members of the diaspora are desperate to join the fight, regardless of experience.

By Pjotr Sauer

A large group of men gathered in front of the Armenian Embassy in central Moscow on Tuesday morning — some dressed in expensive suits, others in track pants — waiting to meet the ambassador. They were members of the Armenian diaspora in Moscow eager to find out how they could help their country in the fighting raging over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Tigran, a 28-year-old taxi driver who has lived his whole life in Moscow and has only visited Armenia once, said he hoped to get more information on how he could join in the clashes, as he felt his “nation needed him.”

“I want to join the final battle for our homeland,” he said, declining to give his surname.

Others, like Aram Nikosian, a 45-year-old businessman, said they had come to coordinate the delivery of financial assistance to Armenia.

Since Sept. 27, Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have been engaged in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous, majority ethnic Armenian region that broke away from Azerbaijan during the collapse of the Soviet Union. The current fighting is the worst seen since a 1994 ceasefire, and the two former Soviet republics have been blaming each other for the escalating violence.

Over the weekend, Armenia shelled Azerbaijan's second-largest city, Ganja, after Azerbaijani forces shelled Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, Stepanakert. More than 220 people have been confirmed dead, but there are fears the actual toll on both sides could be higher.

The Union of Armenians in Russia said last week that it had compiled a list of 20,000 volunteers willing to join the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh. Some of those who have already traveled to the region, however, told The Moscow Times that they were turned away from the battlefield.

“I was in Stepanakert a few days ago, they wrote my name down but said I was not yet needed. At the moment they are only accepting fighters with experience,” said Levan, a student from Moscow who went to Nagorno-Karabakh with three friends, but is now in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

In Armenia and Azerbaijan, officials announced general mobilizations the day fighting broke out. Since then, Armenian media have reported that more than 7,000 carloads of volunteers have arrived at the frontlines in Nagorno-Karabakh. The reports said many have been turned away due to lack of combat experience.

NEWS Russia’s Security Guarantees for Armenia Don’t Extend to Karabakh, Putin Says READ MORE

Not all Armenians leaving Russia to join the cause are heading to Nagorno-Karabakh to fight.

Elina, a 29-year-old doctor, quit her job in a Moscow hospital to fly to the disputed region last week. She said she has been treating patients “non-stop.”

Calm in Moscow

While fighting has intensified in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia has so far not experienced clashes like those that erupted between the Azerbaijani and Armenian diasporas in July, when a short flare-up of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh led to brawls and destruction of property in Moscow.

Back then, it took strong police intervention and intervention by Armenian and Azerbaijani community heads to calm the fighting between the diasporas. In a rare instance of unity, prominent Armenian entrepreneur Sergey Sarkisov and his Azerbaijani counterpart God Nisanov said they would pay to replace food stalls destroyed in the skirmishes.

This time round, members of both diasporas in Moscow told The Moscow Times that the police are closely monitoring the situation, making fresh violence less likely.

“We don’t want to fight here with them anymore. We want to protect our land,” said Tigran.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/10/07/i-want-to-join-the-final-battle-armenians-in-russia-flock-to-karabakh-a71686

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

Greek City Times

Oct 8 2020

The unknown village in Artsakh built by Pontian Greeks

If one finds themself in Artsakh, internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan but having a de facto independence since Armenian forces won a decisive victory for independence in 1994, one will come across what is left of a Greek village.

What does the retired officer, writer and geostrategic analyst Savvas Kalenteridis, who was there, write?

It has been five years since Kalenteridis went to the Republic of Artsakh as an election observer.

Then, with a group of Greeks, he visited the only village in the territory built by the Greeks of Pontus, Mehmana.

As the current developments regarding the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict revived in the Armenian-majority region of Artsakh, Kalenteridis in speaking to Sputnik Hellas, explained the special experience he had in the Pontian village .

“This is a purely Greek village built in the third decade of the 19th century. The residents of Argyroupoli (Αργυρούπολης) in Pontos were informed that there is gold in the area.”

At the same time, as he tells us, the miners expanded to Georgia and Armenia and in particular were led en masse to Artsakh. The gold was mined and processed under Mehmana, in the Martakert area, for more than a century.

It is the most remote colony of the Greeks of Pontus and was once financially strong .

However, when Kalenteridis arrived in the village in 2015, on the slope of a mountain he saw mainly ruins and few inhabited houses .

“The village was purely Greek until the Azeris attacked in 1992. Then they burned the houses, which in fact remain burned to this day. Few of what was built are habitable. After the attack, many relocated to Greece and especially to its northern areas such as Florina.”

He remembers like yesterday the reception given to him by Nikos Ioannidis, 91 years old, who lived in the first house of the village.

“Welcome,” he told us in Pontic. He kept alive the Pontian tradition together with the rest of the Greeks and even corrected me while we spoke Pontic.”

During his visit to the village, he met 10 Greeks and two offspring of mixed Greek and Armenian families.

” Some of them know neither Russian nor Armenian. They speak Pontic and Modern Greek. The latter are in fact known to those who attended the Greek school in the village that even had a Greek teacher. Especially women who are old today know the new Greek language,” he said.

In the settlement, as he learned before the disaster, there was a church with a Greek priest.

Among the surnames he met in the village were: Lavasidis, Akritidis, Ioannidis, Stylianidis, Putahidis and Papadopoulos.

A few years ago, the Greek state discovered them. Greece gave them a tractor as a gift to cultivate the land, but then forgot about them.

“There is no economic activity there today. On the other side of the mountain, at the beginning of the 21st century, a gold mining company was established and today it is exploiting the deposit that the Greeks of Pontus had discovered,” Kalenteridis said.

One of the images that will forever be engraved in his memory will be the accidental meeting with soldiers of the special forces of Artsakh, shortly before the arrival of the Greek delegation in Mehmana.

The soldiers embraced them when they learned that they were Greeks “wanting to show their deep appreciation to our people. One of them knew little Greek and Pontic and was Greek-Armenian.”

Lambros Zacharis is a correspondent for Sputnik Hellas.

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

Newsweek

Oct 8 2020

It's Time for Trump to Soberly Confront the Rising Turkish Threat | Opinion

CAROLINE GLICK , AUTHOR AND SENIOR COLUMNIST, ISRAEL HAYOM
ON 10/8/20 AT 5:30 AM EDT

For the past several months, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has busily dispelled any residual doubts about his hostility toward the U.S. and its allies in NATO and the Middle East. He has accomplished this in multiple ways. Erdogan purchased Russia's S-400 surface-to-air missile system and, in a swipe at the U.S. and NATO, announced his intention to test the system next week.

He threatens and seeks to subvert Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. He has destroyed his nation's longstanding strategic alliance with Israel.

He has cast his lot with the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world, and with Iran against his Arab enemies. Indeed, Erdogan has effectively appointed himself the head of the Muslim Brotherhood. An associate of his recently published a map of a new Ottoman Empire, or "Greater Turkey"—with Erdogan as sultan. It included vast territories spanning from northern Greece to the east Aegean islands, half of Bulgaria, Cyprus, most of Armenia and large swaths of Georgia, Iraq and Syria.

Erdogan is fighting on behalf of Sunni jihadists in Syria and in Libya.

On the positive side, Erdogan's fights in Syria and Libya place Turkey in confrontation with Russia, which is siding with the opposite side in both wars. Erdogan started a new fight with Russia over the past couple of months, which now threatens to transform into a major war. Erdogan is fighting with Azerbaijan against Russia's client Armenia for control over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh area that both Armenia and Azerbaijan claim.

How is the U.S. supposed to deal with Erdogan, the head of NATO member Turkey—a strategically placed ally, traversing two continents, that Washington has long viewed as indispensable?

The Pentagon rejects calls to walk away from Turkey. And a brief look at the map makes clear the generals' reluctance. Perched on Russia's backyard, Turkey's massive landmass provides U.S. forces with easy access to key theaters in Asia, the Middle East and Russia.

To uphold the alliance, the U.S. has consistently bowed its head in the face of Turkish aggression against its allies and partners. In 2019, the U.S. agreed to ditch the Kurdish forces in Syria, despite their central role in assisting U.S. efforts to destroy ISIS's caliphate, in order to avoid a direct confrontation between U.S. and Turkish forces. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just visited Greece and told its leaders to stand down against Turkey and seek a diplomatic solution to Turkey's aggression.

Owing to Turkey's strategic importance, the U.S. has turned a blind eye to its sponsorship of Hamas. The U.S. has not called Turkey to account in a serious way for its willingness to permit ISIS to use Turkey as its logistics and mobilization base, or economic hub, during the years that the murderous jihadist group controlled large portions of Syria and Iraq.

During Barack Obama's presidency, kowtowing to Erdogan was of a piece with Obama's foreign policy vision. Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, sought to restructure the U.S. alliance system in the Middle East away from Israel and the U.S.'s traditional Sunni Arab allies and toward Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood. Given its radical thrust, it made sense when Obama told an interviewer in 2012 that he spoke with Erdogan more than any other foreign leader.

The Obama administration was sympathetically inclined toward the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. It pushed for the overthrow of U.S. ally and long-serving Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2012, and supported the Muslim Brotherhood regime that took power in 2013. Like Erdogan, the Obama-Biden administration was livid when, following mass protests throughout the country and the drying up of Egypt's financial reserves that brought the country of 90 million to the brink of starvation, the Egyptian military ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power and installed Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as president.

Throughout their second term, Obama and Biden did nothing to stop Erdogan's efforts to destabilize and subvert Sisi's government and return the Muslim Brotherhood to power. Today, some 20,000 members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood are living in Turkey, which has become their center of operations just as the nation serves as the operational center of Hamas.

The Obama-Biden administration also did not seriously object to Erdogan's efforts on behalf of Iran when he transformed Turkey into a major economic hub for Iranian sanctions busting. Obama's decision to appease Tehran through the nuclear deal that gave Iran an open road to a nuclear arsenal and enriched the mullocracy by abrogating the UN economic sanctions against it made him, by consequence, supportive of Turkey's outreach and support for the Iranian regime.

The Obama-Biden desire to appease Iran precluded their administration from taking effective action against Syrian President, and Iranian and Russian client, Bashar Assad. Obama's unwillingness to confront Iran empowered Russia to deploy forces to Syria for the first time since 1982. Obama's supine policy in Syria also played a role in Erdogan's decision to begin negotiations regarding the purchase of Russia's S-400 system, which drove a stake into the NATO alliance.

Biden has pledged to reinstate Obama's foreign policy in the Middle East and worldwide if he is elected next month.

On the surface, Trump's policies toward Turkey don't appear that different from Obama's. He has not challenged Turkey's membership in NATO. He has bowed to Turkey's demands in Syria. Although he did block the delivery of F-35s to Turkey, he has refused to-date to sanction Turkey for its aggressive behavior toward Greece and Turkey. He hasn't removed U.S. forces and nuclear warheads from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. And he continues to refer to Erdogan as a leader he respects.

But in practice, Trump's policy is very different from the Obama-Biden policies. Trump is not an ideologue except insofar as "America First" can be considered an ideological position. His commitment to advancing U.S. interests has compelled Trump to set aside traditional policies if they do not conform to realities on the ground. Traditionally, for instance, it has been considered impossible to forge peace between Israel and the Arab states so long as the Palestinian conflict with Israel remains unresolved. Trump saw, however, that Israel and several Gulf Arab states and Egypt were maintaining intense, friendly ties and realized that the traditional perceptions of the Middle East were wrong.

From the time of Ronald Reagan, the prevailing wisdom in Washington was that the U.S. had to cut a deal with the ayatollahs in Iran. Trump realized that no one had succeeded because the Iranian regime seeks to destroy the U.S.—not make peace with it. The Iranians even refused to sign their nuclear deal with Obama, lest they be perceived as making peace with "the Great Satan."

The consistent themes of Trump's foreign policies in the Middle East and throughout the world are that he has insisted on judging leaders by their deeds, and not their words; judging policies by their success in making the U.S. and its allies better off, and not by the support they receive from the foreign policy establishment; and basing U.S. partnerships with foreign states on the presence of shared interests, rather than relying on formal alliance structures to advance American interests and goals.

All of these aspects of Trump's foreign policies are vital for developing and maintaining a successful U.S. policy toward Erdogan's Turkey, as Erdogan exposes himself as a foe interested in pitting all sides against one another to enable his efforts to construct a new Ottoman Empire. Many commentators advocate expelling Turkey from NATO. But it isn't clear that a head-on confrontation with Erdogan would neutralize him. It could well empower him by helping him to rally the Turkish public behind him at a time when Turkey's economy stands on the brink of collapse.

Given Erdogan's multipronged aggression, the first goal of a realistic policy would be to diminish his power by severely weakening Turkey economically. This may mean imposing economic sanctions on Turkey for its aggression against Greece and Cyprus. Or it may mean simply giving Turkey a gentle push over the economic cliff.

Without raising the issue of removing Turkey from NATO, the U.S. can simply not sell Turkey advanced platforms while demonstrating its support for Greece and Cyprus, as well as Israel and its Arab partners.

True, China is already seeking to supplant the U.S. in sponsoring the Turkish economy and selling Turkey arms—but by keeping Turkey in NATO, the U.S. still has more leverage over Turkey than China.

A passive-aggressive policy for diminishing Erdogan's power and the threat he can mount is right up Trump's alley. Trump doesn't often directly attack his opponents. He embraced North Korean leader Kim Jong-un even as he imposed the harshest economic sanctions ever on North Korea and redesignated it a state sponsor of terrorism. He has acted similarly with Putin and with Erdogan himself.

Erdogan's belief that he can rebuild the Ottoman Empire while attacking EU and NATO members, the U.S., its key allies in the Middle East as well as Russia, owes to his narcissism that Obama and Biden did so much to feed.

With Erdogan now openly threatening multiple U.S. allies, it is increasingly apparent that the largest and fastest rising threat to stability and peace in the Middle East is Turkey—and the victor in next month's U.S. presidential election will have no lead time to deal with it.

Trump's reality-based foreign policy, his preference for indirect confrontations and empowerment of U.S. partners to defend themselves from aggression, rather than dictating their actions or fighting their battles for them, give the president the flexibility to diminish Erdogan's maneuver room, his economic independence and his popularity at home—while also empowering U.S. allies directly affected by the strongman's aggression to stand up to him effectively, with or without direct U.S. involvement.

Caroline B. Glick is a senior columnist at Israel Hayom and the author of The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East, (Crown Forum, 2014). From 1994 to 1996, she served as a core member of Israel's negotiating team with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

https://www.newsweek.com/its-time-trump-soberly-confront-rising-turkish-threat-opinion-1536864?fbclid=IwAR1qa1DQlNf4AqaQvJ0wPuTAWGs_Q74LDVsoMmh-5wSrMuzGRmxMuwEfSdU

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

Let the international media read this and stop saying alleged attack on church!

Azeri president brags about intentionally targeting civilian facility
October 9, 2020 - 20:10 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev admitted on Friday, October 9 that his country's army has intentionally targeted civilian infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh․
Aliyev said the Azeri troops have destroyed the House of Culture in Shushi, where Arayik Harutyunyan was inaugurated as Karabakh President in May.
"We could have bombed Shushi when they were holding the swearing-in ceremony, but we didn't do it then, despite many asked me to. Now let him (Arayik Harutyunyan - Ed.) look at the building where he took an oath," Aliyev said in a televised speech.
The Azerbaijani army opened a rocket fire and almost entirely destroyed the House of Culture of Shushi, which was opened in 2017. Azerbaijan has also struck the iconic Ghazanchetsots Cathedral of the city.
Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey, launched a large-scale offensive against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27, shelling Armenian positions and civilian settlements with large caliber weapons and rocket systems. Armenia and Karabakh have introduced martial law and total mobilization. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. International and local journalists too have been injured in Azeri shelling of towns and villages, as well as the iconic Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi.
Donations can be made to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, which has launched a fundraising campaign to support Karabakh amid Azerbaijan's aggression.

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

Karabakh denies Aliyev claims of capturing Hadrud

October 9, 2020 - 18:57 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Nagorno-Karabakh presidential spokesman Vahram Poghosyan has denied Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's claims that his army has captured the town of Hadrut.

"The nonsense that Ilham Aliyev said about capturing Hadrut is as far from reality as the intimidated Azeri army is from Hadrut, i.e. tens of kilometers," Poghosyan said Friday, October 9.

Armenian Defense Ministry representative Artsrun Hovhannisyan too denied Aliyev's claims.

"I am in Hadrut right now, for some reason all I see is Armenians," Hovhannisyan wrote on Facebook.

Immediately after Aliyev's address, Russian journalists from WarGonzo Telegram channel published a photo from Hadrut and said they had recently returned from the town which is under the Karabakh Defense Army's control.

Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey, launched a large-scale offensive against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27, shelling Armenian positions and civilian settlements with large caliber weapons and rocket systems. Armenia and Karabakh have introduced martial law and total mobilization. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. International and local journalists too have been injured in Azeri shelling of towns and villages, as well as the iconic Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi.

Donations can be made to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, which has launched a fundraising campaign to support Karabakh amid Azerbaijan's aggression.

Yervant1 · October 9, 2020

Italian MPs: Jihadists' presence in Nagorno Karabakh must be a wake-up call for international community

Members of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Massimiliano Capitanio and Giulio Centemero have issued a statement in connection with the aggression by Azerbaijan against Artsakh and the presence of mercenaries in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone.

"Disturbing news about the presence of jihadist terrorists transferred by Turkey next to the conflict zone should be wake-up call for the international community. If those reports are confirmed, the conflict will develop in a more serious scenario," the MPs say.

They note that the UN, the OSCE, and the EU undertake helpful initiatives to resume the talks. The MPs also urge the Italian government to activate efforts for the diplomatic solution to prevail over violence.

Source Panorama.am

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

Fake sultan already says that truce will not hold!

Reuters
Oct 9 2020

Azeri leader rules out concessions before Nagorno-Karabakh talks

Nailia Bagirova and Nvard Hovhannisyan

Azerbaijani children are seen in a secondary school classroom where they are settled with their families after fleeing Terter, during the military conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in the town of Barda, Azerbaijan October 9, 2020.

BAKU/YEREVAN (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's president ruled out making any concessions to Armenia on Friday ahead of talks aimed at halting the deadliest fighting in the South Caucasus region for more than 25 years.

President Ilham Aliyev's uncompromising position in a televised speech appeared to leave little room for de-escalation as the Azeri and Armenian foreign ministers arrived in Moscow. The talks were expected to be the first diplomatic contact between the enemies since fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave erupted on Sept. 27, killing hundreds of people.

The mountain enclave belongs to Azerbaijan under international law but broke away in a war as the Soviet Union collapsed and is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians.

"Let those holding talks in Moscow know that it's our territory and we won't be making any concessions," Aliyev said after Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov flew to Moscow.
He said he had proved there was a military solution to the dispute: "We are winning and will get our territory back and ensure our territorial integrity," Aliyev said. "Let them abandon our territory in peace."
The talks in Moscow, attended by Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, follow the launch of a peace drive by France, Russia and the United States at a meeting in Geneva on Thursday, details of which have not been made public.
The renewed fighting in the decades-old conflict has raised fears of a wider war drawing in Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, and Russia, which has a defence pact with Armenia.
The clashes have also increased concern about the security of pipelines that carry Azeri oil and gas to Europe.
Fragile Situation

The Armenian government said Friday's talks would focus on a cessation of hostilities and exchanges of bodies and prisoners.
"We are moving towards a truce soon even if the situation is still fragile," French President Emmanuel Macron's office said.
But Turkey said diplomacy would succeed only if it ensured a withdrawal of Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians regard as part of their historic homeland.
"It is almost certain to fail if it doesn't also involve a detailed plan to end the occupation," Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told Al Jazeera.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Friday Nagorno-Karabakh was on the verge of a "humanitarian disaster".
Azerbaijan's defence ministry said there had been fierce clashes on Friday with ethnic Armenian forces along the line of contact that divides the two sides, and that several areas deep in Azerbaijan had come under fire.
ADVERTISEMENT
Shells fell on Stepanakert, the city ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh consider the capital of an independent state, the enclave's defence ministry said. Armenia denied its forces had attacked locations deeper in Azerbaijan on Friday.
Washington, Paris and Moscow have led mediation over Nagorno-Karabakh for almost three decades as co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Minsk Group.
The fighting is the worst since a 1991-94 war that killed about 30,000 people and ended with a ceasefire that has been violated repeatedly.
Azerbaijan said on Thursday that 31 Azeri civilians had been killed and 168 wounded since Sept. 27. It has not disclosed information about military casualties.
Nagorno-Karabakh said on Friday 376 of its military personnel and 22 civilians had been killed since Sept. 27.

(Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara, Michel Rose and John Irish in Paris, and Alexander Marrow and Maria Kiselyova in Moscow, Writing by Margarita Antidze and Timothy Heritage, Editing by Jon Boyle and Peter Graff)

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN26U0PZ?fbclid=IwAR2QM0_DoE6vqONxetlntT99oEMqDfn5-rujF5n9hQqbvI1XnNYm_c4ZE4k

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

Fake sultan erDOGan is good at bullying the helpless, defenseless Armenian citizens.

Stockholm Center for Freedom
Sept 30 2020

Turkey provoking nationalists against Armenian residents amid Azerbaijani-Armenian clashes, deputy says: report

By SCF -September 30, 2020

The green light given by Turkish authorities for Turkish nationalists to hold demonstrations in front of the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul is a provocation, an Armenian-Turkish opposition lawmaker said on Monday, Turkish Minute reported.

Garo Paylan from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) warned authorities against hate speech and crimes amid recent Azerbaijan-Armenia clashes over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“It is a provocation [by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government] to allow for such a demonstration on the street where the Armenian Patriarchate is located. I call on the government to take the necessary measures for our patriarchate and [Armenian] institutions. The result of hate speech is hate crime. Put an end to the politics of hate!” the deputy said on Twitter, also sharing a video of demonstrators.

The video showed protesters waving Azerbaijani and Turkish flags and chanting slogans in a convoy of cars on the patriarchate’s street in Istanbul’s Kumkapı neighborhood.

A group of Turks and Azeris were allowed to stage the protest following an outbreak of conflict on Sunday between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

At the end of a state of emergency in July 2018, Turkey’s governors were granted the authority to implement emergency practices for three years. The governors have frequently used their new powers to restrict and disperse opposition meetings and demonstrations in the country.

Istanbul’s governor has attracted fire from critics as he failed to exercise this power to prevent such a risky and provocative protest.

“Many Armenian immigrants live In Kumkapı. I think what they [the protestors] did was to threaten them [the Armenian residents rather than the patriarchate]. This is very dangerous!” said Robert Kopbaş, former editor-in-chief of the Agos newspaper, which is published in Turkey in both Turkish and Armenian.

Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, an HDP deputy and human rights activist, also questioned the approval for the demonstration granted by Turkish authorities, asking whether the AKP government was planning for “new September 6-7 incidents.“ The lawmaker was referring to the 1955 İstanbul pogrom against minorities, including Greeks, Armenians and Jews.

In response to reactions from critics, AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik said in a series of tweets that they would not let Turkey’s Armenian citizens be threatened.

Several attacks have targeted the Armenian community in Istanbul over the past three months. The door of an Armenian church was torched, and a crucifix was removed. A threatening letter was also sent to the Hrant Dink Foundation, which was established in 2007 following the assassination of Hrant Dink, the founder of the Agos weekly.

Dink was assassinated in front of the newspaper building on January 19, 2007 when a similar nationalist rhetoric in the country was on the rise. The perpetrator was a nationalist youngster with reported links to the then-alleged Ergenekon terrorist organization.

Last July the Istanbul 4th High Criminal Court acquitted all 235 Ergenekon suspects of “forming and managing, membership of, or aiding and abetting an armed organization,” declaring that no such an Ergenekon terrorist organization existed.

Meanwhile, in the early hours of the recent clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared unconditional support for Baku, labeling Armenia “the biggest threat to peace in the region.”

The Armenian ambassador to Russia claimed that Turkey had sent around 4,000 jihadists from northern Syria to Azerbaijan amid fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a report on Monday by the Interfax news agency. Azerbaijani and Turkish authorities denied the allegations.

Similarly, in June, Turkey was accused of sending its ally Syrian fighters to Libya where a civil war has been ongoing for several years. The international community has been calling on Turkey for months to stop interfering in Arab affairs.

https://stockholmcf.org/turkey-provoking-nationalists-against-armenian-residents-amid-azerbaijani-armenian-clashes-deputy-says-report/

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

Los Angeles Times

Oct 9 2020

Bound by duty and love, some L.A. Armenians are joining the battle lines in their homeland

David Koroghlyan was visiting family in Armenia when violence broke out on Sept. 27 in a tiny separatist region between neighboring Azerbaijan in the southern Caucasus. He stayed behind to fight.(Family photo)

By LILA SEIDMAN

OCT. 9, 20205 AM

David Koroghlyan and his two boys were visiting family in Armenia when fighting broke out on Sept. 27 with neighboring Azerbaijan over a tiny separatist region on the border of the ex-Soviet republics.

Within days, Koroghlyan put his 10- and 11-year-old sons on a plane back home to Los Angeles. He was staying behind to join the fight.

Now training 12 hours a day with a volunteer group of soldiers, Koroghlyan could be called to the front lines any day.

“I’m not sure if they know that they might not see their dad again,” said his wife Susan, who asked that her last name not be used for safety reasons.

Koroghlyan is one of a number of Armenian Americans living in Los Angeles who have uprooted their lives — leaving loved ones and careers behind — to help their home country as it fights a reignited war for its claim to the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Armenians refer to it as Artsakh.

A man walks in front of a destroyed house after shelling in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region’s main city of Stepanakert on Thursday during the ongoing fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region.(Aris Messinis /AFP / Getty Images)

Thousands of Armenians have taken to the streets of Los Angeles to protest the hostilities, blocking major freeways and demanding politicians back their cause. But Southern California — home to the largest Armenian population in the United States — has also become a a central staging area for relief efforts.

The region has long been at the center of efforts to commemorate the Armenian genocide, and many believe the stakes are now very high for the future of their homeland. The fighting in the contested region touches many Armenian Americans on a personal level.

“Everyone either has fought and has memories of that, or lost someone and has memories of that. Or today has a cousin, a nephew, a neighbor, a somebody who’s there,” said Salpi Ghazarian, director of USC’s Institute of Armenian Studies. “So, you know, if my cousin’s going, my God, you know, what am I doing sitting here?”

More than 1,000 people supporting Armenia with flags, signs and songs, gathered in protest of the Los Angeles Times, which used a quote from the consul general of Azerbaijan in an article about the conflict in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region between Armenia and Azerbaijan, outside The Times headquarters.(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Hostilities are now at their fiercest since an uneasy truce in 1994 ended a war over the region that claimed about 30,000 lives in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Since that cease-fire, Nagorno-Karabakh has been self-ruled by ethnic Armenians, who make up the majority of the population of about 150,000.

Many local Armenians see echoes of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in the current war, Ghazarian said. Turkey, whose ancestors Armenians blame for the genocide, has strong ethnic ties with Azerbaijan and has announced its support for its ally in the revived war.

“So all of us are somehow connected to this,” Ghazarian said.

Syuzanna Azizbekyan, 23, said it was great to see the rallying in Los Angeles, where she lives, but felt she could be of more use in Armenia, where she was visiting family when the war broke out. She decided not to board her scheduled flight back home on Wednesday. Instead, she’s staying in Armenia’s capital Yerevan, as a volunteer with the defense ministry helping with the humanitarian side of the war effort. Part of that involves relocating families fleeing the war zone, which is six hours to the south.

“My time is needed here. And my energy and effort is needed here more than I would be able to help there,” Azizbekyan said in a midnight video call from Armenia. “Our country is so small and our population is so, so small that I personally have been the hand that feeds.”

Just over a month ago, Azizbekyan was living with her parents and brother in San Gabriel, taking a break from studying for her pharmacy degree at West Coast University. Sometimes she said she scrolls through photos on her phone to see how different life was like before she decided to devote herself to the war.

Her fiance, Vardges Zakaryan, a Glendale resident, said he supports her decision.

“Originally, I was kind of shocked. At the end, we both talked it out and I was pretty happy she wanted to stay,” Zakaryan said. “To be honest, I wish I was there to help out.”

Both Zakaryan and Azizbekyan were born in Armenia and moved to the U.S. as teens after securing green cards. They met while she was working at an AT&T store in Glendale. After dating for about three years, they got engaged in Las Vegas just before the pandemic swept over the U.S.

They’re now planning their wedding while more than 7,000 miles apart — across an 11-hour time difference.

Although Azerbaijan’s population is about triple that of Armenia, a relatively small number of Azerbaijani Americans live in California, with higher concentrations up north, according to members of the community.

Ulduz Azar, an officer of the Azerbaijan Cultural Society of Northern California, said her local community in San Francisco has also been raising money to send to Azerbaijanis who have lost family members or whose homes have been destroyed.

“We’re all very, very worried and tense,” Azar said. “We are trying to do our best to help those who are impacted.”

Laurence Broers, a scholar on the conflict, said Azerbaijan instigated this attack. However, he said the country still sees it as a defensive war — to reclaim lost land. Azerbaijani officials view the contested territory — as well as seven adjacent districts — as belonging to Azerbaijan.

Nasimi Aghayev, Azerbaijan’s consul general in the Western U.S., said about 800,000 Azerbaijanis were forced to flee their homes as a result of the war that ended in 1994. Aghayev accused Armenia of working in concert with Russia, which has a military base on Armenian soil.

Urged by European Union leaders alarmed by the escalating conflict threatening to draw in regional superpowers, talks were planned this week among the U.S., France and Russia in Geneva. Neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia have signaled that a cease-fire is near. Both sides see the land as theirs.

As of now, Azizbekyan’s return flight is scheduled for Monday, but she said there’s no guarantee she’ll get on the plane.

“I told myself I wouldn’t leave until the war was done, just so I could celebrate,” Azizbekyan said. “Because that’s what that’s what we’re all waiting for — just that one day where they say, ‘Hey, it’s over. The boys are coming back home.’”

Susan, the wife of David Koroghlyan, was born and raised in Glendale — home to the largest Armenian community in Southern California. She said she would make the same trip her husband did if she didn’t have her small boys to worry about. She said she isn’t sleeping much. Every 30 minutes, she checks online for updates about the fighting.

Now, with her husband overseas, she is about to say goodbye to her brother, George Avakian, too.

Avakian, a real estate agent living in Monrovia, is frantically gathering supplies to bring over to Armenia to help soldiers and civilians alike. He plans to leave in a few days.

Avakian, 34, said his family has been in the U.S. since the late 1960s. They were one of the first Armenian families in Glendale and watched the city transform, he said.

But no matter how many miles they put between their homeland and themselves, the conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has never seemed far away.

“Everybody my age, and after, grew up with this. This has been looming over our heads,” Avakian said. “So, here it is, a resolution. Here’s a chance.”

There is anxiety and worry. Avakian is leaving a fiancee. He’s in the middle of closing house sales and a mountain of paperwork that he needs to wrap up and hand off.

But there’s also relief, Avakian said.

“Have you ever had a moment where you figured out exactly what you were supposed to do?” he said. “That’s it.”

Some, like Glendale resident Alec Baghdasaryan, would like to travel to help in the campaign. But at 62, he said he can’t risk getting infected with the coronavirus while traveling to Armenia, let alone to the besieged separatist region, where he operates a branch of a software company and co-owns a hotel.

This past week, he found out devastating news. Kevork Hadjian, his close friend of nearly a decade, died after volunteering to fight on the front. Baghdasaryan called Hadjian “truly a beautiful person.”

A tenor, Hadjian frequently sang for children at a poetry festival Baghdasaryan organized at his hotel in the city of Shushi. Hadjian was supposed to sing at a church event in Glendale this past spring, but the event was canceled due to the pandemic.

“You know, as a human being, you don’t want any human being to get injured. Either side,” Baghdasaryan said. “It’s sad that situations like this come up and you cannot find a solution peacefully.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-09/armenia-azerbaijan-los-angeles-artsakh-war-connections?_amp=true&fbclid=IwAR25r3bjc6ydYmMRZfZGzhYY1_GS7OS7hKEEdEv85r8nVGdOhPihp3QzPEE

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

This is the kind of people, that wants us to live under their brutal rule. Only savages do these acts.

Slipped Disc
Oct 9 2020

WAR CRIME: ARMENIAN CONCERT HALL IS BOMBED

By Norman Lebrecht
On October 9, 2020

We hear that Azerbaijain troops, with Turkey’s support, have bombed a concert hall in the town of Shushi, which is in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. It is nowhere near the front line of the present conflict.

The Azeris are apparently trying to make it uninhabitable for Armenians in an onslaught of ethnic cleansing.

They have ground support from the Turks and a green light from the Russians.

https://slippedisc.com/2020/10/war-crime-armenian-concert-hall-is-bombed/?fbclid=IwAR3riXZG1bNJirYsMh3k4Gxcnnca_xSHy5E9ODGNJBiOTQXRAx-jeQkueEA

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

This is what the savage fake sultan aliyev is ruining in plain sight and the civilized world is silent because of few barrels of oil. Oil will be gone in time but culture and art is forever!

ANM - Armenian National Music
Oct 9 2020

In Armenia-Artsakh Christian Island Gandzasar is the Promised Land. Montserrat Caballé
Published: Oct 09 2020, 22:21
Author: ANM Media

The Ministry of ESCS of RA acquired the exclusive right to present the video “Armenia and Artsakh: the Island of Christianity" starring world-famous Spanish Soprano Montserrat Caballé. The singer together with Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra performs Krounk (Crane) by Komitas.

In the never-before-seen video, Caballé visits Saint Ghazanchetsots church in Shushi, which was damaged because of airstrikes launched by Azerbaijan on October 8. "Armenia has always been the cradle of Christianity. The power of Gandzasar is in faith. That boundless faith will bring me here. I can say everything, I have been to Gandzasar, it is very important for me. This is not an ordinary pilgrimage, and Gandzasar is not an ordinary place either. In Armenia-Artsakh Christian island Gandzasar is the Promised Land. I am happy that the world can convey news from this Christian island because it is so widespread, so close in our hearts. This country is not only an island of Christianity but also the root of the history of Christianity," the singer said during her visit.

They say that in Gandzasar she was admiring the beauty of the church, touching the walls, looking at the inscriptions for a long time. She was amazed by the beauty of Armenian medieval architectural art, explaining the interest in the abundance of Armenian Christian monuments. The videos are from Montserrat Caballe's visit to Artsakh in 2014. The famous Starmus Universe organization transferred the exclusive right to show the video to the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports. The video once again reminds the civilized world and urges that the Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia and Artsakh, the island of Christianity in the South Caucasus, must be condemned.

https://anmmedia.am/en/news/monserrat-cabalhe-video-in-artsakh/343?fbclid=IwAR2CiWwdxaEWAjJa_RIEIUF6wLS536KNz0hKPTeYsqvWS7DDf51213C4vRA

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

Yet Israel supports azerbaijan hence it supports turkey!

Jerusalem Post
Oct 9 2020

Ankara, after fueling Armenia conflict, moves on to Varosha in Cyprus

Turkey was already pivoting from having provoked the crises with Armenia in September to create a new crisis in mid-October.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN OCTOBER 9, 2020 11:02

Ankara provoked a new crisis with Cyprus on Thursday with plans to extend its illegal occupation of part of the island to include an area called Varosha. Turkey’s regime of Recep Tayyip Erdogan uses a new international crisis every week to distract from economic failures at home and to keep the public motivated through nationalist and religious action.

Varosha is a beach area that has been abandoned for 46 years after Ankara invaded Cyprus and expelled Greek Cypriots from the northern part of the island. Ankara claims its illegal invasion was merely to “guarantee” the rights of Turkish Cypriots. However, the expulsion of Greeks and keeping them from returning to areas like Varosha run counter to that claim.

Turkey’s policy of expelling minorities in Cyprus is linked to its historic expulsion of Armenians and Greeks and its recent invasion of Afrin where it expelled Kurdish minorities. The Guardian interviewed Greeks who had been expelled from the area in 1974. One woman described seeing the area reopened as a “sorrow.”

Cyprus leader Nicos Anastasiades said that the move was “illegal” and it has been condemned by Russia and the EU and UN have expressed the usual “concern” which means they will draft statements and do nothing. Turkey has been increasingly threatening Greece and other EU and NATO members.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently visited Greece and Cyprus to show support for the countries. Pompeo is also “concerned” about Ankara’s aggressive behavior. Turkey has slammed Pompeo, threatened the Trump administration and bashed US Presidential candidate Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in recent months.

The Cyprus provocation is of importance to the region. Israel is becoming a key ally of Cyprus and Greece with a new gas deal that is supposed to include a pipeline and energy forum. Meanwhile the Egyptian and Russian navies are drilling in the Black Sea and Turkey is testing out the S-400 system it bought from Russia in the Black Sea.

Turkey is also accused of using the S-400 system to track NATO-member Greece’s F-16s, an accusation that emerged this week but refers to an incident in August. The New York Times analyst Christiaan Triebert has alleged Turkey sent F-16s to Azerbaijan during a recent conflict that broke out with Armenia in late September.

If all these incidents seem hard to follow, it is because Ankara wants them that way. It fuels fires from Armenia to Libya to Sinjar in northern Iraq to keep media and locals running from one story to another. Ankara plays the region like a piano, where every key is a new military invasion or bombing campaign.

Since 2016 Turkey has moved to a process of confrontation with all its neighbors. This was in contrast to the pragmatic policy of Ahmet Davutoglu, a former foreign minister and prime minister under the Erdogan regime. Turkey once had “zero problems” with its neighbors and wanted to join the European Union.

At the time it was a democracy. Now Turkey has removed all but 5 of the 65 mayors of the opposition HDP party. It’s ruling AK Party portrays the opposition CHP as stabbing the country in the back. Turkey is the largest jailor of journalists in the world and has purged more than 150,000 civil servants after a coup attempt in 2016.

There is almost no critical media in Turkey and the country resembles a one party state increasingly like other authoritarian regimes where no criticism of the leadership is permitted. People are often arrested for posting criticism of the government on social media. Turkey’s ruling party is also plowing resources into religious education to create a more extreme populace in the future to back its programs.

The top religious affairs directorate in Turkey is hiring while secular academics are pushed out in other areas. The religious body now has more of a budget than 8 other ministries, according to Ilhan Tanir of Ahval.

Ankara began its new crises-driven policy in 2016 with its first invasion of Syria and increasing its war against Kurdish dissidents. In 2018 it invaded the peaceful Kurdish region of Afrin, leading to 160,000 Kurds fleeing and Ankara imported extremist Islamist militias to run the occupied zone.

It then directed those same militias to attack the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in a new invasion in October 2019 near Tel Abyad. Then it took the militias and sent them to Libya in January and is now sending to fight on behalf of Azerbaijan against Armenia.

Ankara’s crises-driven policy has now entered a phase of a new military crises every two weeks. After having sent arms illegally to Libya to fight in a civil war, threatening Egypt and the UAE and causing a crises with France, it bombed northern Iraq in July and then in August began threats against Greece and Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean. With the Eastern Mediterranean issue percolating in mid-September Ankara set its sights on a new crises with Armenia.

The government ordered media to report that “terrorists” were working with Armenia, an invented news story that usually foreshadows a Turkish invasion, and then encouraged Azerbaijan to attack the disputed area of Nagorna-Karabkah on September 27. The war there has now displaced some 50,000 Armenians, joining the 350,000 mostly Kurds that Ankara has displaced in Syria.

On October 8, amid the Turkish-backed fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia, forces shelled a historic Armenian church in Shusha in Nagorna-Karabakh, part of Ankara’s history attacks on Christian churches and minority groups such as Alevis. The shelling of the Armenian church is linked to Ankara’s decision to turn the historic Christian church of Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque in July in Istanbul. At the time the Turkish Presidency said that Ankara would soon “liberate Al-Aqsa.”

Turkey was already pivoting from having provoked the crises with Armenia in September to create a new crisis in mid-October. Ankara has sent thousands of Syrian rebel mercenaries to fight in Azerbaijan, a cynical move designed to get rid of them from northern Syria and distract them and use them to gain a foothold in Nagorna-Karabkah so Ankara can continue to provoke crises there when it serves its interests.

Ankara has several targets it could aim for now. On October 1 the Turkish president’s office put out a social media graphic and statement arguing that “Jerusalem is ours.” This rhetoric is part of the Turkish ruling party’s attempt to increase its role in the Israel-Palestinian issue. With roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey’s rulers see Hamas as an ally. Hamas terrorist leaders have twice received a red carpet treatment this year by Ankara, most recently in late August. On September 22 Turkey also hosted Hamas-Fatah reconciliation talks. Pompeo has condemned Ankara for hosting the Hamas leaders and wanted terrorists.

Ankara judged that Varosha would be an easy place to provoke a new crises with the European Union and Cyprus. The abandoned beach area, full of hotels and buildings, could be easily and illegally opened and Ankara could show northern Cyprus residents that it stands by them. In provoking the news about Varosha the goal of Ankara is to show there is nothing that stands in its way.

F-16s can fly to Azerbaijan or attack Armenia, Turkey can invade Syria, remove the Americans from Tel Abyad, harass French warships at sea and use S-400 radar to track NATO-member Greece’s jets, threat Israel, the UAE, Greece, Syria’s regime, bomb Iraq, and there are no repercussions.

The rising attacks on NATO members, even though Turkey is also a member of NATO, is designed to show that Ankara has no rules to abide by. For instance in June Turkish naval vessels were accused of flashing French naval vessels with their radar, a kind of symbolic threat. France complained about the incident.

Turkey’s pro-government media on Friday celebrated the conflict with Armenia with coverage of the “Azerbaijani frontline.” Turkey’s Anadolu media also celebrated the one year anniversary since Ankara’s illegal invasion of Tel Abyad in Syria, where Kurdish minorities were hunted down and attacked, with some 200,000 people forced to flee. Ankara calls it a victory against “terrorism,” even though there were no terror attacks on Turkey from Syria. Anadolu also mentioned the Varosha issue and said Greece was provoking Turkey with a new naval drill.

The recent moves by Ankara have raised eyebrows in Jerusalem. Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that Turkey was a destabilizing force in the region. Israeli intelligence and military assessments reported over the last year depict Ankara as a rising threat. However there is no consensus among Israel, the UAE, Egypt, Cyprus, Greece or other countries concerned by Turkey’s actions, on how to meet the destabilizing threat. The increased use of Syrian mercenaries which Ankara has turned into a foreign legion to sacrifice in wars where Ankara wants a role has harmed Armenia and Libya. Cyprus and Greece have been threatened.

In March Turkey sent poor Syrian refugees to the Greek border to try to get the EU to give Ankara support in a battle with the Syrian regime and Russia in Idlib. At the same time Turkey and Russia work together with Iran in other parts of Syria.

Turkey’s media pushed rumors of Israel-Turkey reconciliation in May 2020, as Turkey sought to slow down efforts by Egypt, Cyprus and Greece to work on a gas forum and gas deals. In the end Turkey couldn’t torpedo the increased work between Israel and Egypt, the UAE, Greece and Cyprus. Ankara then moved to oppose the UAE-Israel normalization deal announced in August.

The endless crises-driven policy is oddly reflected in its ruling AK Party’s own propaganda. A graphic posted online shows Turkey like an octopus with hands in Armenia, Syria, Cyprus, Greece, Iraq, the Black Sea and reaching to Libya, with an opposition CHP dagger stabbing the octopus in the back. This is familiar imagery with the 1930s notion in Germany that the opposition “stabbed” Germany in the back during the Great War. Social media users pointed out the similarity.

There has been limited pushback. The US critiqued Ankara’s hosting of Hamas. Iraq and others have expressed concern but done little to stop Turkey’s invasions and bombing. Israel, the EU, NATO, France and many other countries have also expressed concern. Greece, a frontline state, is trying to deal with the endless new provocations.

It must deal with Turkish naval threats and drone threats and use of the S-400 radar, as well as Turkey using “research vessels” as cover for naval expeditions. Cyprus must now go to the UN to complain about Varosha. However the international community generally does little to stop aggression.

Russia has invited Armenia and Azerbaijan to talks in Moscow, but Ankara’s goal will be to keep its mercenaries on the ground to heat up the Nagorna-Karabakh conflict whenever it needs a new crisis. Canada has suspended some exports to Turkey due to the warmongering. The EU recently said Turkey was undermining democracy, yet another warning.

Iran has said the war Ankara stoked in Armenia could lead to a regional conflict. US Senators have expressed concern about Turkey using the Russian S-400 radar to harass naval allies. In this sense the beach at Varosha is merely one more frontline for Ankara. In two weeks it will find a new crises to fuel or a new war to push. Concerns point to eastern Syria where it may once again try to attack US-backed SDF forces.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/ankara-after-fueling-armenia-conflict-moves-on-to-varosha-in-cyprus-645132?fbclid=IwAR2nKNdI2mGyaueb-rxGy7bCwBq1mkXNpf8-A4HGeSoLwl9yQ7Mf_AZ_7rU

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

GVWire

Oct 9 2020

State Sen. Borgeas Urges U.S. to Stand With Armenian Republic in Conflict

Jim Jakobs

October 9, 2020

Saying California is home to a vibrant Armenian community that is proud to condemn injustice, civil rights abuses and human rights violations, state Sen. Andreas Borgeas (R- Fresno) sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging the United States to stand with the Republic of Artsakh and preserve peace in the region.

Armenia accused Azerbaijan on Thursday of shelling a historic cathedral in the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, where nearly two weeks of heavy fighting has killed hundreds of people.

The latest outburst of fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces began Sept. 27 and marks the biggest escalation of the decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The region lies in Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war in 1994.

Following a series of calls with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian President Vladimir Putin late Thursday proposed a cease-fire to allow the parties to exchange prisoners and collect the bodies of those killed.

California’s Bi-Partisan Message

Senator Borgeas joined with other members of the State Legislature including state Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D – Sanger) in writing the letter.

Part of the letter reads:

“With over 1,900 casualties which include civilians and servicemen and thousands injured amongst them, we respectfully call on the administration to take the following actions:

Condemn Azerbaijan’s aggression towards the republic of Artsakh which adversely affects security in the region.

Urge Azerbaijan to allow international OSCE monitoring, immediately end all hostility and negotiate a permanent and lasting peace.

Cease all U.S. economic or other assistance to Azerbaijan.

We ask the Administration and U.S. State Department to be more proactive in preserving peace in the region.”

Zoom Discussion

Borgeas hosted an online video discussion about the conflict on Thursday. He was joined by Robert Avetisyan, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Artsakh to the United States, and Berj Apkarian, the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia in Fresno. Borgeas said the purpose of the discussion was to provide a historical overview of Armenia and Artsakh as well as examine the current conflict.

Watch: Armenia – Artsakh Discussion

https://gvwire.com/2020/10/09/state-sen-borgeas-urges-u-s-to-stand-with-armenian-republic-in-conflict/

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

Armenpress.am

“Relatively stable-tense” – Artsakh military on overnight situation

Save

Share

09:49, 9 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The situation at the Artsakh-Azerbaijan conflict zone was relatively stable-tense overnight, the Artsakh Defense Army reported on October 9.

“The tactical situation remained unchanged, firefights, artillery battles continued in individual sections of the frontline, and the Azerbaijani forces again fired rocket-artillery strikes at peaceful settlements. The Defense Army units are in full control of the situation and are ready for any development of events.”

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1030947.html?fbclid=IwAR28GyCXTT8xE4yH_Gtnhn61tc1t5fybHxexWw6O2UI0s0DR_ExB_8m9zq0

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

Armenpress.am

Stepanakert City again under Azeri missile bombardment

Save

Share

10:53, 9 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani forces are again firing missiles at Artsakh’s capital city Stepanakert, Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan said.

The civilian population of Stepanakert has come under heavy Azeri bombings multiple times over the last several days.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1030957.html?fbclid=IwAR2Mn-7zTHmGFm9fCboiX6pQ8bWOtGaUSH2JjQE-LsR0X7Z8TvTlMvdzLCg

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

Armenpress.am

‘Azerbaijan nullified all efforts and initiatives of mediators in peace process’ – Artsakh MFA

Save

Share

13:06, 9 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The recent statement of the President of Azerbaijan that the resumption of hostilities does not mean the rejection of the negotiation process, and that Baku continues to consider the residents of Artsakh as its citizens is a manifestation of the highest degree of cynicism, the foreign ministry of Artsakh said in a statement.

“Such statements demonstrate that the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan lives in its own fictional world, detached from the reality. Without realizing the illegal and illusory nature of its claims to Artsakh, the Azerbaijani authorities will not be able to break the vicious circle into which Baku has driven itself with anti-Armenian propaganda, attempts to rewrite the region’s history and manipulative interpretation of international law.

Firstly, citizens of the Republic of Artsakh have been living in an independent, sovereign state since 1991, and have no political and legal ties with Azerbaijan whatsoever. Baku has long lost the moral right to call the people of Artsakh “its citizens”. And, after unleashing an armed aggression against the Republic of Artsakh on September 27, 2020, and deliberately targeting peaceful population and civilian infrastructure using cluster munitions and other types of prohibited weapons, such statements from Baku are a meaningless set of empty words.

Moreover, by unleashing another aggressive war and resuming attempts to resolve the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict by force, Baku has derailed all the efforts of the international mediators, nullifying their initiatives in the peace process. Under the current circumstances, there is only one way out – international recognition of the independence of the Republic of Artsakh, which will ensure lasting peace and stability in the region, as well as exclude Azerbaijan's attempts to start another war and prevent the Baku authorities from committing new crimes against humanity”, the statement added.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1030982.html?fbclid=IwAR14RKr_EI6qbWySOd0ngBdjDcZV69lofNR0ffUB3Kr-a-qllpNziKHpjfQ

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

Armenpress.am

Azerbaijani attacks continue in parallel with hate speech against ethnic Armenians – Ombudsman

Save

Share

13:08, 9 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani attacks on the civilian population of Artsakh and Armenia continue in parallel with an immense volume of hate speech against ethnic Armenians.

Arman Tatoyan, the Ombudsman of Armenia, has issued a statement which says:

Calls for hatred and violence, including killings are being disseminated through mass media, especially by social media platforms, by Turkish and Azerbaijani sources.

There is a large number of aggressive web pages and groups, which spread video materials and texts inciting hatred and violence, containing materials illustrating cruel treatment of living or deceased people, killings, and destruction. There is also a significant number of fake profiles with false Armenian names and last names, which send threats and intimidating messages to actual Armenian users.

All aforementioned materials are being disseminated through Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.
This has all been confirmed by the evidence collected within the framework of the independent monitoring of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia. This includes mainly objective evidence, such as photographs, screenshots of the social network pages, and video materials.
I hereby emphasize that hatred against ethnic Armenians has deep roots and enjoys state support. From the first day of the military attacks the dissemination of hatred and calls for cruel treatment and killings have become more coordinated – culminating into excessively dangerous volumes.
I call firmly upon the international community to draw attention over this extremely dangerous circumstance. There is need to take urgent and effective measures, which will stop and prevent this appalling phenomenon. It is being accompanied with violation of international requirements and is a real threat to information security and peace in the whole region.
I call upon parents to be exceptionally cautious with regards to the use of social networks, and in case of minors, exclude their access to social networks. I call upon children to stay away from accessing and following unknown pages, and in any circumstance stay away from opening and reading messages from unknown social network pages.
All evidence on dangerous incidents collected via screenshots will be sent to international partners and embassies in appropriate formats.
The Human Rights Defender continues to work in 24 hour emergency working regime.
Close cooperation with the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh is ensured”.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1030984.html?fbclid=IwAR0r-W5JKUg1pmdcx1SeN8ADLlLc3xrcyuxckUyNYzGUUls822y_CTKJ0xg

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

The savages can bomb cultural and religious sites, this will only increase the spirit of Armenians worldwide to achieve success!

Armenpress.am

Dozens of tons of aid delivered to Armenia from Diaspora’s different communities

Save
Share

13:45, 9 October, 2020
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Dozens of tons of aid are being delivered to Armenia from the Diaspora’s different communities these days, the Office of High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of Armenia told Armenpress.
“Almost all communities have gathered around the Artsakh and pan-Armenian fight.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs deals with the coordination of the assistance coming to Armenia”, the Office said in a statement.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1030991.html?fbclid=IwAR3Cnc8F9MDkR-OJuTJ-3nnndcOkmurYbf3ZVrnthXASSG1rU5Nle-0LRsA

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

Chicago tribune

Oct 9 2020

Why these Armenian American celebs are speaking out about a chronic conflict

By Laura Zornosa, Los Angeles Times

Tribune News Service |

Oct 09, 2020

Among Kourtney Kardashian’s 19 Instagram story posts Wednesday, two stood out. One was a “Pray for Armenia” graphic of a woman draped in the red, blue and apricot orange Armenian flag and hugging a globe.

The other was a post by writer and researcher Araxie Cass titled “Armenians are facing the threat of genocide: What’s happening in Armenia and Artsakh and how you can help.” The eldest Kardashian sister captioned the post with “important. please read through this post.”

A little-known fact to some, reality stars Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Rob Kardashian are all of Armenian descent. The great-grandparents of their father, Robert Kardashian (O.J. Simpson’s late defense attorney), were ethnic Armenian immigrants from the village of Karakale.

The Kardashian siblings are among Armenian American celebrities — including Cher and System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian — using their social media clout to raise awareness about an ongoing conflict in the region.

Please share the news @esrailian Armenians in #Arstakh have been attacked. We are praying brave men & women risking their lives to protect Artsakh & #Armenia. The news is misleading & these are not “clashes.”

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) September 27, 2020

Armenia and its neighbor, Azerbaijan, are former Soviet republics in the southern Caucasus region, straddling Asia and Europe. A long-simmering conflict between the two countries regarding the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has boiled over in recent days.

The mountainous region — home to 150,000 majority ethnic Armenian people — is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

However, beginning on Sept. 27, fighting over the disputed territory has killed more than 360 people, according to Reuters, including at least 320 military personnel, 28 Azeri civilians and 19 civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

That makes this current conflict the deadliest since a 1991-94 war that killed an estimated 30,000 people and displaced more than a million. Azerbaijan officials say Armenian armed forces violated a ceasefire in the area, a narrative disputed by Armenian proponents.

Since the fighting began, Armenian Americans, including the Kardashian clan, have been spreading the word about the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians call by its historic name, Artsakh. The comments under the Kardashians' Instagram posts are peppered with Armenian flag emojis and cries to “pray for Armenia.”

The Armenian diaspora around the world far outnumbers Armenia’s own population of about 3 million. Alex Galitsky, communications director for the Armenian National Committee of America, Western Region, told The Times that Los Angeles houses more Armenians than any city outside of the capital of Armenia, Yerevan.

PLEASE SHARE NOW! @esrailian pic.twitter.com/SVPtWzBvrN

— ROBERT KARDASHIAN (@robkardashian) September 29, 2020

On Oct. 1, gastroenterologist and Emmy-nominated film producer Eric Esrailian — who helped create the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA in 2019 — partnered with Kim, Khloe and Rob Kardashian, as well as Tankian, to get the story out on social media.

“Please share the news,” Kim Kardashian posted to her Instagram story. “Armenians in #Arstakh have been attacked. We are praying (for the) brave men & women risking their lives to protect Artsakh & #Armenia. The news is misleading & these are not ‘clashes.’ Armenia has been the victim of unprovoked attacks by Azerbaijan & the predictable disinformation campaign that accompanies them.”

“What’s going on in Armenia breaks my heart,” Khloe Kardashian posted to her Instagram story. “I pray so deeply for everyone’s safety and health. ... #Armenia and Artsakh are defending themselves but seek assistance from the international community to condemn these attacks & restore peace to the region.”

“In the fog of the pandemic & global crises, #Armenians in #Artsakh have been victims of unprovoked attacks by #Azerbaijan,” Rob Kardashian posted on Twitter. “We appeal to the international community to continue to condemn these attacks. From the highest levels of leadership, we know Armenia and Artsakh want peace.”

Please share now! I am partnering with friends to get our story out, but I need your help. Scroll down to see threads of my joint statements with @KimKardashian @khloekardashian @robkardashian @serjtankian on Twitter & Instagram & share with your respective networks ✊❤️ pic.twitter.com/uS3SkLLAaW

— Eric Esrailian (@esrailian) October 1, 2020

After the 2015 death of Armenian American investor Kirk Kerkorian — who had owned the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer media company for 17 years — Esrailian took over Kerkorian’s company, Survival Pictures.

Before his death, Kerkorian bankrolled the historical drama “The Promise,” which tells the story of the beginnings of the Armenian genocide in 1915.

“My great-great-grandparents came from Armenia to Los Angeles in 1914, right before the genocide happened,” Kardashian wrote for TIME in 2015. “We have no existing family left in Armenia. Had they not escaped, we wouldn’t be here.”

The Kardashians have long been vocal advocates for the Armenian cause. Kim and her sister Kourtney attended the Hollywood premiere of “The Promise” in April 2017 alongside fellow Armenian Cher. The film’s trailer aired regularly during episodes of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” at the time.

Late last year, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed a resolution formally designating the mass killings of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide. But the Trump administration ultimately sided with Turkey and rejected the congressional resolution.

@cher @JoeManganiello @KimKardashian All of Armenian descent and should be raising awareness about what’s going on in #Artsakh and #Armenia

— Lylyt (@lilitdan) October 2, 2020

In recent days, the Kardashians and Cher have been retweeting posts calling on celebrities to use their platforms to spread awareness of the Artsakh conflict, as well the international community to condemn the violence.

“L.A. is proud to be home to the largest Armenian diaspora,” one post retweeted by Cher said. “We stand with the people of Armenia. urge our leaders in Washington to conduct the sustained and rigorous diplomacy necessary to bring peace to the Artsakh region.”

“The Armenian community just really wants to be heard,” Kim Kardashian told The Times in 2017. “I think it’s so important that people just acknowledge that something happened. Of course we can all get through it. We have no choice. But when you’re not recognized for something, that is when you’re fearful it could happen again, and that’s what’s so scary.”

Esrailian’s original tweet calling for celebrity support, which the Kardashians responded to, also tagged Tankian.

He fronts System of a Down, which is an Armenian American heavy-metal band: It comprises four members — Tankian, guitarist Daron Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan — all of whom are of Armenian descent. Tankian and Malakian both attended an Armenian school in Los Angeles as kids.

“#Armenian civilians in #Artsakh continue to be attacked by #Azerbaijan without justification,” Tankian wrote on Instagram. “Russian, U.S. & French leaders have called for an end to these hostilities, but Turkey called the demand for truce ‘unacceptable’ & is using American made F-16 aircraft to add to the hostilities.”

[Most read] Couple seeks to block sale of ‘Windy City Rehab’ host’s Bucktown home »

The War Zone, a branch of The Drive automotive publication, obtained an Oct. 3 satellite image of Ganja International Airport in Azerbaijan on Wednesday, which showed two F-16 Viper fighter jets — which the publication says are “almost certainly belonging to the Turkish Air Force.”

The growing military conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia is threatening to become a much wider war. @serjtankian told @TonyWrightNZ the NZ Govt should step up and join other countries in calling for an immediate ceasefire. #Newshub pic.twitter.com/3RIdIexGsm

— Newshub (@NewshubNZ) October 2, 2020

Rapper Cardi B was also entangled in the conflict this week and issued an apology for promoting a virtual fundraiser for the Armenia Fund. The musician was called out by people on both sides of the land dispute for not doing her research.

“But I don’t know what to believe,” she said on Twitter. “I don’t know. One side is telling me something, the other side is telling me something else. I just want peace. ... I don’t want people dying.”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-celebs-armenia-artsakh-conflict-20201009-5r2qpfdkifemboqapt42gspfya-story.html

Yervant1 · October 10, 2020

Thieving azeries, low lives!

Greek City Times
Oct 9 2020

Fake Azerbaijani website stealing money from Armenian charity brought down by Anonymous Greeceby Paul Antonopoulos

A fake website created by Azerbaijan to steal money from well intended people wanting to support Armenia was brought down by hackers belonging to Anonymous Greece.
In Facebook post, Anonymous Greece said:
“WARNING: Azerbaijani created a FAKE Armenia Fund website to steal money from Armenians and from all those who want to help. See the screenshots bellow and take care where are you browsing. Always use VPN and always trust websites with SSL ( HTTPS ).”
However, just a few hours later Anonymous Greece made an update from their Facebook account, announcing “Update: The FAKE ( Phishing ) Armenia Fund website has been successfully suspended,” which came with an accompanied photo.
https://www.facebook.com/anonopsgreece/posts/199262328268019
Yesterday, Anonymous Greece would make another post, urging Armenians to stay strong.
“Stay strong Armenia.
Greece is always here for you.
Keep yourself and your families safe.
Turkey = Terrorists
Azerbaijan = Terrorists.”
https://www.facebook.com/anonopsgreece/posts/199290441598541
Since the Turkish-sponsored Azerbaijani military and Syrian jihadist invasion attempt of Artsakh begun, Anonymous Greece has been very active in doing what they can within their capacity to support the Armenians.
In one attack, the hacking group down over 150 Azerbaijani government websites, as reported by Greek City Times.
In another such attack, Anonymous Greece wrote in a Facebook message: “Turkish Assembly Parliament subdomain Pwned,” with “pwned” deriving from the word “owned”, due to “o” and “p” being close to each other on the keyboard and finds its origins in internet culture, particularly gaming.
Accompanying the post was an image of the hack Anonymous Greece did against The Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
“Turkish Accemly Pwned by (Greek – Armenia),” “Armenia will win this war against evil Turkey and Azerbaijan, and “Killing innocent people and kids makes you terrorist,” Anonymous Greece wrote on the webpage of the Turkish Parliament.
In a Greek City Times interview with Serj Tankian of System of a Down, the singer encouraged more such actions.
When Tankian was made aware that Greek hackers had been targeting the Azerbaijani government, he said “First of all, thank you for all the support. I wasn’t aware of the website hacking that had taken place. More of that geared toward Azeri and Turkish air command and control centers would be nice.”
Read the full interview here.
For those who want to make a donation to Armenia, the most reliable source is the Himnadram/Hayastan All Armenia Fund, which can be found here.
https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/10/fake-azerbaijani-website-stealing-money-from-armenia-charity-brought-down-by-anonymous-greece/

Sign In

cease-fire violations by azeris

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

gamavor

MosJan

Yervant1

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Join the conversation