cease-fire violations by azeris

[Yervant1]

France: Turks attack peaceful Armenian protesters with hammers

October 28, 2020 - 14:11 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - A group of Turks in France attacked Armenians rallying to protest Azerbaijan's aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh and hit two of the rally-goers with hammers on Wednesday, October 28.

One of the young Armenian men who sustained an injury to his head is in a serious condition, Aysor.am reports.

"We blocked the road from both sides. There were Turks stuck in traffic who hit our friend in the head with a hammer. There were five of them (the Turks - Ed.)," a protester said.

The police have now arrived at the scene. Protesters have handed them the hammer they managed to snatch from the Turks and are continuing their campaign.

Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey and Syrian and Libyan mercenaries deployed by Ankara, started a war against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. Foreign and local journalists too have been injured in Azeri shelling of towns and villages.

Donations can be made to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, which has launched a fundraising campaign to support humanitarian efforts in Karabakh.

[MosJan]

«Եղնիկներ» լեգենդար զորամասում լեգենդար հրամանատարն ու զինվորները արժանի հակահարված են տվել թուրք–ադրբեջանական խուժանին, ովքեր ռազմի դաշտում թողել են մարդկային ու զինտեխնիկայի մեծ կորուստներ. https://shamshyan.com/hy/article/2020/10/27/1168935/

[MosJan]

«Հեռացեʹք, որ չդառնաք կենդանի վահան». Վահրամ Պողոսյանի կոչն ադրբեջանցիներին

https://artsakh.news/am/news/193172?fbclid=IwAR1nz3T_n7JpgZth2HlFYi6HAauKjeFMwTqo4cSLXXcGfc_jXIZgq782vME

[Yervant1]

Hey you coward fake sultan, read this and put it in your filthy head that you will not win this war, when we have fighters like these unlike your paid thugs from ISIS, pakistan and other shithole places! This shows we are fighting for our homeland, but you want a land given to you by comrade stalin may he rot in hell!

 

With ropes and wooden guns, returning Armenians train for war

By Maria Tsvetkova

YEREVAN (Reuters) - When conflict broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh last month, Aghasi Asatryan was thousands of kilometres away in Germany, embarking on a career as an IT specialist.

The 29-year-old Armenian national immediately applied for vacation, citing a family matter, and flew back to Yerevan, his home town.

On a hillside above the Armenian capital, he began combat training at a camp founded by veterans of a previous war in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave controlled by ethnic Armenians but internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

"My plan is to get prepared and to go to the front line," Asatryan said. Slung across his shoulder was a wooden copy of an AK-47 assault rifle, a training aid given to each volunteer at the camp.

More than 1,000 people have died in a month of clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan considers to be illegally occupied. [nL1N2HJ0WZ]

It rejects any move to leave Armenians in control there, while Armenia regards the territory as part of its historic homeland and says the population there needs its protection.

Asatryan moved to Germany seven years ago as a student, avoiding conscription. He has neither served in the army nor held a gun before and said he could not tell his bosses that he was going back home to fight.

"My German employers wouldn't understand a man who would want to go to war," he said. "But I know that we, the Armenians, wouldn't have survived so many centuries without understanding that every man should fight for his homeland."

Asatryan is one of hundreds of volunteers from as far afield as Argentina and the United States to have joined the VOMA Survival School in recent weeks.

Its founder, Vova Vartanov, fought in the 1991-94 war in Nagorno-Karabakh in which about 30,000 people were killed. He has returned to the front line as leader of a volunteer battalion.

Reuters reporters saw dozens of men and women in the camp, split into groups for lessons on using hand grenades and repelling a gun attack. Some volunteers were practising rock-climbing using ropes and the concrete wall of a waste dump.

Before the latest fighting broke out on Sept. 27, the school would attract 20 to 30 people at a time for training in readiness for a renewed war. One of the instructors, Karapet Aghajanyan, said "hundreds" from the Armenian diaspora had now come.

Armenia's defence ministry said this month that around 10,000 people volunteered to take up arms on the first day of fighting. [nL8N2GZ38H]

Azerbaijan's defence ministry said 55,000 volunteers were registered between July 12 and July 22 after fighting in another region. It said that information about more recent volunteers was classified.

Knarik Karaminasyan, a 21-year-old English teacher from Yerevan, decided to join the volunteers as soon as she learned that women were welcome and could be sent to the front line as medical workers or cooks.

"It was hard at the beginning and I even had nightmares," she said. Now she feels more comfortable.

"Here, I feel better than at home, where I was just scrolling through Facebook, reading the news and panicking... Now I feel that I'm getting ready for something important."

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova in Yerevan; Additional reporting by Nvard Hovhannisyan in Yerevan and Nailia Bagirova in Baku; Editing by Robin Paxton, Janet Lawrence and John Stonestreet)

 

[Yervant1]

HyperAllergic

Oct 28 2020

“We Are the Rifles Our Ancestors Didn’t Have”: Female Collective Protests for Armenians

Members of the She Loves Collective led a striking procession along the Los Angeles River to raise awareness about the Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Renée ReizmanOctober 28, 2020

LOS ANGELES — It’s golden hour and the sun begins to fade behind the Los Angeles river. We are sitting under an overpass, red and white roses and dead leaves scattered across slanted concrete, and the thundering echo from the cars above pops like crossfire. A woman sits still like a sentinel, a semi-automatic rifle boldly printed on her dress, and a rug woven in Armenia lays under her feet. Next to her, a large banner warns us, “The rifles our ancestors didn’t have.”

Thus begins a peaceful demonstration led by She Loves Collective to raise awareness of the war in the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, which reignited on September 27. In the past month, more than 1,000 Armenians have been killed and thousands more have been displaced from their homes. Last week, She Loves Collective led demonstrations in Downtown Los Angeles, in front of City Hall and the Broad Museum, but even in a city that has one of the largest Armenian populations in the world, the war has received little media attention.

In a silent procession, the demonstrators, each in a rifle dress and traditional Armenian jewelry, made their way to a row of seats. They sat and worked on crafts, like embroidery, calligraphy, and sewing. On a large cloth, one woman splashed paint, black in the shape of a gun and bright red for blood.

“WE are the rifles our ancestors didn’t have,” She Loves Collective Executive Producer Ani Nina Oganyan wrote to Hyperallergic. “We — the descendants of the survivors, we — the diaspora, we — the artists, musicians, healthcare workers, lawyers, business women, inventors. Our bodies, our minds, our craft, our love, our language, our food, our traditions are a connection to a land that so many of us have never even seen before.”

Behind the women, a video projection depicted recent bombings. Villages have been turned to rubble, and irreplaceable Christian sites have been destroyed. The women walked to the edge of the river, where they plucked petals from roses and cast them into the water. Each petal could represent at least a dozen lives lost in the last month. They were gently swept into the current, ready to wilt in the Pacific Ocean. The last thing we saw on the projection was a simple message, #WeWillWin.

https://hyperallergic.com/597238/we-are-the-rifles-our-ancestors-didnt-have-female-collective-protests-for-armenians/?fbclid=IwAR0sxUWtMf9v3Vair8Bcbp2Zkfn85uoNgawmFGl5Lhq9Zxt6pyOk78zQvXg

[Yervant1]

Yahoo! News

Oct 27 2020

Armenian email campaign asks SpaceX not to aid Turkish regime with satellite launch

Devin Coldewey

,

TechCrunch•October 27, 2020

SpaceX staff and members of the media have been inundated this morning with emails ostensibly from concerned Armenians around the world, asking the company to cancel a launch contract with the Turkish government. The concerns are valid — and the mass-email method surprisingly effective.

In the form email, received by TechCrunch staff hundreds of times in duplicate and with minor variations, the senders explain that they represent or stand in solidarity with Armenians worldwide, an ethnic and national group that has suffered under the authoritarian rule and regional influence of Turkey's President, Tayyip Erdogan.

SpaceX is slated to launch the Turkish satellite Turksat-5A in the next month or two, a geostationary communications satellite built by Airbus that will serve a large area of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The deal has been on the books for a long time, and SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk even traveled to Turkey to meet with Erdogan regarding the satellite in 2017.

To enter into the complexities of the long conflict in which Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and nearby countries and powers have figured is beyond the scope of this article, but it is hardly controversial to say that there have been serious human rights abuses under Erdogan's regime and others. The word "genocide" is frequently used.

Turkish President Erdogan calls for boycott of US tech

As the email plea points out, many countries and governments have opted to condemn Turkey's behavior, and some companies have stopped doing business with the government. Will SpaceX join them?

At this stage — a month before launch, when the payload is likely already locked in — it seems unlikely that SpaceX will return the millions of dollars Turkey has no doubt already paid it, in order to appear more ethical by deplatforming, as it were, the government there.

But the campaign raises a legitimate question that is increasingly faced by new tech-focused companies growing to encompass a global community that is diverse and at times difficult to navigate. Where do companies like SpaceX — or Apple, or Google, or Facebook, or for that matter Airbus — draw the line? Should SpaceX be disinterested and mercenary, simply providing services to anyone who pays? Or are there some governments or people whose money it will not take?

So far SpaceX hasn't had to walk too narrow a path on that front; the launch industry is heavily weighted toward military and government contracts, so the deal is already made with that particular devil. But as it becomes more established and can be a bit more choosy with its customers, it may consider acting as a gatekeeper in the industry where 10 years ago it was a gatecrasher.

As for the email campaign, TechCrunch staff were surprised at its effectiveness in eluding Google's spam filters. I contacted the person listed in the email as the originator of the campaign, who did not identify themselves beyond being part of the "Artsakh Strong" movement, for more information and to be removed from future emails (which I was).

The person explained that the emails were sent by individuals, not from a central location, which despite their duplicative content may account for their all making it to our inboxes. "These are people who are coming together to make their unified voice heard," she wrote. " We are not affiliated with any groups but our message is one shared by every Armenian American. I apologize for the inconvenience of you having to delete excessive emails but our people are being murdered on a daily basis and we need to bring attention to our cause."

She suggested that as an American company, SpaceX should embody the country's (supposed) values and refuse to do business with regime's like Erdogan's. Furthermore, she noted that SpaceX receives a great deal of funding and business from the U.S. government, which amounts to a secondhand blessing of its deals as being in the public interest.

"There are calls for sanctions of Turkey by the US and other NATO countries," she wrote. "SpaceX is strongly urged to take all these factors into consideration and decide for itself whether or not it wants to continue to aid Turkey in the face of such overwhelming and clear evidence of criminal actions. At the very least, Elon Musk and SpaceX can halt the launch to see what these investigations lead to. While this may be a loss of profit for SpaceX it would be a huge leap for world progress."

Artsakh Strong raises legitimate points that many companies providing services internationally must address or have their intentions inferred from their actions. This cannot be the first, nor will it be the last, that SpaceX or any of the new generation of space companies will have to make a difficult choice. At the very least they might explain why they choose how they do.

(Update: Artsakh Strong, which refers to the Republic of Artsakh, was originally identified as an individual in this post rather than a movement. This has been corrected and my ignorance exposed.)

https://news.yahoo.com/armenian-email-campaign-asks-spacex-205402956.html

[Yervant1]

Coward West is letting a small country Armenia to fight ISIS and it's ilk all alone! Hey West where is your honour? Where is your dignity?

Morning Star, UK

Oct 28 2020

Turkey accused of shipping in jihadists into Azerbaijan-Armenia war

JIHADIST groups are believed to have been present in Azerbaijan since at least February, it was claimed today, with Turkey accused of shipping in militia, including the Uighur Muslim terror group the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP).

The Islamist fighters are thought to have been mobilised from their bases in Syria to join Azeri forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, where they are fighting against Armenia.

Despite Turkey initially denying the presence of the jihadists, film footage and photographs have since corroborated reports which began circulating in the Syrian press in August.

The Morning Star reported on the mobilisation of Turkish troops in July when tensions flared between the two Caucasus nations.

Ankara was accused of a “dangerous provocation” after its armed forces joined their Azeri counterparts for war games exercises close to the Armenian border.

It was reported that Turkey shipped fighters from the Syrian National Army into Azerbaijan during the military operations, with many wearing Turkish army uniforms and staying in the same barracks.

The news was picked up by the mainstream media in late September when it was confirmed that hundreds of jihadists had been flown into Azerbaijan and were paid as much as $2,000 (£1,530) a month to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh.

But according to the latest reports, Islamist groups are thought to have been present in Azerbaijan as early as February.

Members of the Armenian diaspora in the Syrian city of Aleppo claim that mercenaries were sent by Turkey on buses belonging to the Aras transport company arriving in the Azeri regions of Nakhichivan and Sumgait in February and March.

Aleppo-based freelance journalist Armen Tigrankert reported that the Uighur jihadists from the TIP, formerly known as the East Turkmenistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), were also mobilised by Ankara.

TIP is designated as a terrorist organisation by the EU, UN and US, among other countries.

Affiliated to al-Qaida, it seeks to establish a caliphate called East Turkestan to replace China’s Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region. TIP is accused of carrying out more than 200 terror attacks in the region between 1990 and 2001, killing more than 400 people.

The group sent fighters to join the myriad of jihadist groups in Syria as they sought to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

TIP has a base in the city of Jisr al-Shughur in the Syrian province of Idlib, which remains under the control of Turkish-affiliated militants.

Its fighters were reportedly given military training in the province before 30 Uighurs and their families were flown on a Turkish Airlines flight from the Turkish city of Antakya in Hatay province to the Azeri capital Baku.

According to reports, the Uighur fighters are paid just $500 (£382) to $700 (£535) per month by the Turkish state, significantly lower than those from other militia including the Sultan Murad Brigade.

Battle continues to rage between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh after a third ceasefire broke down minutes after it was implemented on Monday.

Azeri forces have been accused of war crimes, including the use of banned cluster bombs and the beheading of a captured Armenian soldier.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/turkey-accused-of-shipping-in-jihadists-into-azerbaijan-armenia-war?fbclid=IwAR3v656VQv-VrNhaXNe1ug20zFvRdWnN21Xg6Hq9YKndnz7N-WyxDzknOdI

 

Edited October 29, 2020 by Yervant1

[Yervant1]

EurasiaNet.org

Oct 28 2020

Small outpost is Russia’s first visible aid to Armenia The base is small, but would act as a tripwire deterring Azerbaijan from expanding its offensive into Armenian territory.

Ani Mejlumyan Oct 28, 2020

Russia has reportedly set up a small military outpost on the border of Armenia in an apparent attempt to keep Azerbaijan’s offensive from spilling over into Armenian territory.

Foreign journalists have documented the small post, consisting of a few tents and with a Russian flag flying above it. It is located next to Tegh, the last village in Armenia on the road to Lachin, the narrow corridor connecting the country to Nagorno-Karabakh.

either Russia nor Armenia has officially confirmed the presence of the post at Tegh. No Armenian media has reported on the outpost.

Over the past week, Azerbaijani forces have advanced to close to Lachin (which Armenians call Berdzor), the essential lifeline for Karabakh. It is the only road available for both civilians and military forces to get in and out of the territory, which Armenians have controlled since the early 1990s and which Azerbaijan is seeking to retake.

At an October 27 briefing, Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan said that Armenian forces had repelled an attack on the area.

“Today, the enemy attempted to carry out attacks in the direction of Berdzor,” he told reporters. It also attempted to approach the border of the Republic of Armenia from the southern direction. All of the attempts were thwarted.”

Soon after the fighting started on September 27, Armenia set up its own outposts in Khndzoresk, a bit further in to Armenian territory.

But the Russian deployment is a much more significant deterrence for Azerbaijan; in spite of its small size it would act as a tripwire deterring Baku from triggering a more substantial Russian response.

Russia’s relatively hands-off approach has been the source of much disappointment and speculation among Armenians, and there had been multiple reports of a Russian military presence in southern Armenia.

On October 20, news website 1in.am reported, referring to unnamed sources, that “Russian troops have joined Armenian forces to guard Armenia’s borders. According to our information their number is not small.”

But another news site, Infocom.am, cited sources in the regional Syunik government saying that the only Russian troop presence in the region were the border guards who have been patrolling Armenia’s border with Iran since 1995.

Russia’s efforts are welcomed by Armenians, however insignificant or discreet they might be.

Many in Armenia have become disillusioned with the lax attitude that much of the international community has taken toward the conflict. But Russia has been mostly spared that criticism.

The president of the Armenia-backed de facto Nagorno Karabakh government, Arayik Harutyunyan, issued an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 23. He thanked Putin for mentioning, in a recent speech, the Sumgait pogroms of 1988, when Azerbaijanis attacked ethnic Armenians living in that city; it was one of the key precipitating events of the war that resulted in Armenian control over Karabakh and the surrounding territories.

“This conflict did not begin as a conflict just between two governments over a territory, it began with interethnic confrontations,” Putin said at the Valdai discussion club on October 20. “Sadly, this is a fact, when first in Sumgait and then in Nagorno-Karabakh brutal crimes were committed against the Armenian people.”

Harutyunyan responded: “Unfortunately, Azerbaijan continues its genocidal policy to this day. […] You [Putin] are the personality and the head of state who has a huge reputation all over the world and in our region. Taking this into account, I ask you to make all possible efforts to stop the war in the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict zone and resume political processes.”

Putin’s other comments have been more ambiguous, however. He has referred to both Armenia and Azerbaijan as valued Russian partners. And he has specified that Russia’s treaty obligation to defend Armenia – both are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization – applies only to Armenia itself, not to Armenian-controlled territory in and around Karabakh.

The topic of Russian aid has been a hot one in Armenia, and there are widespread rumors of secret Russian military aid, though there is no evidence to support them.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev also has repeatedly claimed that Armenia is being supplied with new weapons.

In an October 27 interview with Italian television, Aliyev said that “there are 5,000 Russian troops at the base in Gyumri, and according to the information we have, the base maintains regular arms supply to Armenian armed forces.”

“The most state-of-the-art weapons are being dispatched to Armenia every day,” he said on October 25. “We have a list of such weapons. We have data about the flights: when, where from the flight was performed to Yerevan, and which cargo it carried.”

Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based in Yerevan.

https://eurasianet.org/small-outpost-is-russias-first-visible-aid-to-armenia?fbclid=IwAR3pdMvprRcAotcQWd4SkcGsw4FN4hwj5s2633kh47Gfv4glocXLLMtxyQU

[Yervant1]

Reporters Without Borders

Oct 28 2020

TV journalist hounded in France over Nagorno-Karabakh report

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the online attacks that a French TV reporter received from members of the Armenian community in France after just doing her job by covering the current fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region from the Azerbaijani side of the front line.

Liseron Boudoul, a staff reporter for the French TV channel TF1, began receiving hate messages on Facebook and Twitter, including such insults as “genocidal whore,” after TFI broadcast her report on its 8 p.m. news programme on 22 October. She was also subjected to pressure via a WhatsApp text from someone who had managed to get her personal phone number.

TF1 was itself also targeted by systematic harassment on social media and in emails and phone calls.

Two reporters for a leading French daily were also subjected to online threats from members of the Armenian community in France in early October in connection with their articles about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“We firmly condemn the harassment to which Liseron Boudoul and TF1 have been subjected,” said Pavol Szalai, the Head of RSF’s European Union and Balkans Desk. “It is unacceptable for a journalist and a media outlet to be hounded in this way for covering a conflict, on the grounds that they placed themselves on a certain side of the front line.”

Szalai added: “We also call on Franck Papazian, the co-chair of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations in France, to unequivocally condemn this grave attack on freedom of the press.”

In a Facebook comment, Papazian described Boudoul’s report as “similar to disinformation.” One of the comments that followed said: “It’s possible that with a few beheadings of senior TF1 personnel, they will think better and more clearly.”

The day after Boudoul’s report was broadcast, members of the Armenian community demonstrated spontaneously outside TF1’s headquarters in Paris in protest against what they regarded as the TV channel’s biased coverage.

A few days before Boudoul’s report, TF1 had broadcast two reports from the Armenian side of the front line. To defuse tension, TF1 finally removed Boudoul’s report from its website.

France is ranked 34th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index, while Armenia is ranked 61st and Azerbaijan is ranked 168th.

https://rsf.org/en/news/tv-journalist-hounded-france-over-nagorno-karabakh-report?fbclid=IwAR1aivfaceAbGDKIp9ocHn74qWMpTeALpgZRqbilGxnXHcPUH2VgrL0xdPY

[Yervant1]

The Irish Times

Oct 28 2020

Armenians hope their fighting spirit will save them amid Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Stepanakert Letter: Scenes from daily life help illustrate the essence of the war here

Amanda Coakley in Stepanakert

about 4 hours ago

0

The children are gone and only a few women remain. Stepanakert, the de facto capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, has become a city of men. The streets are quiet aside from the odd ambulance, military Jeep or Lada banger grunting along. The supermarket shelves are thinning and the menu options at the Armenia Hotel leave much to be desired.

So much of this war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which erupted on September 27th, is from another time. In the south it’s mostly trench warfare, where young men huddle in shallow narrow trenches. Decaying bodies are scattered across no man’s land – there are reports of wild pigs tearing at rotting flesh at night.

In villages, families are packed on to buses and sent to Yerevan, Armenia’s capital. Some refuse to leave and retreat to a life underground. Every day brings rumours of Azeri advances, fresh propaganda and stories of loss.

In Stepanakert you can talk about the war, but you cannot analyse it. The Armenians’ love for this land, and their willingness to die for it, has hindered their ability to talk about it frankly. A dark flash crosses their face when you mention Azeri gains or press for facts about strategy.

They are a nation of fighters and firmly believe their fighting spirit, coupled with their advantage of having the higher ground in Nagorno-Karabakh, will save them in the end. When asked in an interview with this reporter how the Armenians can defend against Azeri drones, which have been supplied by Turkey and Israel and have inflicted heavy losses, the president of Nagorno-Karabakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, said: “This is a sacred war, and the side who fights a sacred fight, wins.”

At the media centre in Stepanakert, which tightly shepherds international journalists, every opportunity to show us a shot-down drone is taken. The reality is the Armenians can’t defend the sky on their own: they need support from outside, and that has been slow to come.

Tender moment

If someone randomly hands you a piece of fruit in Nagorno-Karabakh it’s not because they think you’re hungry. They are giving you a part of their home which they have had to flee because of the fighting. It’s a tender moment and should be treated with respect.

On the many minibuses out of Stepanakert, the bag of fruit is treated with a special reverence. It’s likely the succulent apples and king oranges, which are called Arqayanaring, will fade before the end of this most recent escalation. After three humanitarian ceasefire announcements, the bellicose rhetoric and fighting continues – but the fruit is symbolic of the essence of this conflict. On both sides it’s about ownership of every blade of grass in Karabakh.

On Tumanyan Street, Hovik Asmaryan and his wife Isabel, Syrian Armenians from Aleppo, serve free meals all day to soldiers and journalists alike – “It’s my duty to my country,” Hovik says.

One of the most remarkable meals this reporter has had in Nagorno-Karabakh was served on the front line in the company of a group of young soldiers aged between 18 and 20. Arthur, a cheeky boy of 18, was working as a chef before the war and had taken over kitchen duties in the trenches.

Without a moment’s notice he whipped up some chicken with lentils and bread. It was wholesome and honest and came peppered with questions regarding how much carbohydrates the Irish eat compared to the Armenians. The decision was made not to debate such a contentious issue – there would be no winner.

Daily life

Daily life is quiet in Stepanakert but wrapped around the silence is a determination to win the war. The people here are a broad cast of characters. The well-dressed family alone in a shelter every night drinking Karabakhti vodka in memory of the dead. The young soldiers guarding the hotels who are glued to social media, waiting to be called up to the front.

The volunteers asleep in hotel lobbies after walking 4km across the worst front lines under heavy shelling to deliver supplies to the troops. The Baudelaire-loving colonel in a military bunker sitting with a Finnish rifle and reading Dante’s Divine Comedy.

The city seems oblivious to the encroaching front line. This is both a comfort and a cause for concern. Mass is still said daily, and the bakeries still churn out delicious fresh bread. It could be the calm before the storm, or the energy these men need to protect their homeland.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/armenians-hope-their-fighting-spirit-will-save-them-amid-nagorno-karabakh-conflict-1.4393547?mode=amp&fbclid=IwAR1Kzx7U4hH54_0mjRU8tMwc9bZRQ5j7-gy6ubjl6xD-imrHqZTJlgA0Wi0

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Oct 28 2020

Armenia and Artsakh Republic are once again the subjects of Azerbaijan’s unprovoked aggression – Eduardo Eurnekian

Armenia and Artsakh Republic are once again the subjects of Azerbaijan’s unprovoked aggression, Argentine Armenian businessman Eduardo Eurnekian said in a message.

“With an endless supply of the most advanced military technology and supported by an army of mercenaries, the Azerbaijani army is ruthlessly attacking the peaceful Armenian population, which has no choice but to heroically repel the aggressor with the great sacrifice of the most precious of its society, its youth,” Eurnekian said.

“We salute our employees from Armenia International Airports, Converse Bank, Karas Wines and Zvartnots Handling, who have left their families behind and volunteered to join the defense of our homeland,” he said.

Eduardo Eurnekian has donated a total of $3.5 million to Hayastan All Armenian Fund’s “We Are Our Borders” global fundraising initiative.

 

 

 

https://en.armradio.am/2020/10/28/armenia-and-artsakh-republic-are-once-again-the-subjects-of-azerbaijans-unprovoked-aggression-eduardo-eurnekian/

[Yervant1]

CIVILNET.AM

28 October, 2020 19:14

It’s been exactly a month since thr Azerbaijani offensive on Nagorno Karabakh. The Azerbaijani forces backed by Turkey have been attacking cities and villages with aerial missiles since September 27. And along the frontline, Armenian soldiers are ferociously fighting to keep their lands.

In Armenia, those who are not enrolled in the army to fight, are volunteering in huge numbers to assist the defense of their people through whatever means they can.

https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/10/28/Armenian-Volunteers-are-the-Backbone-of-the-Army/404593

[Yervant1]

Former Presidents of Uruguay express solidarity to Armenian people

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16:03, 29 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Former Presidents of Uruguay Julio María Sanguinetti (1995-2000), Luis Alberto Lacalle de Herrera (1990-1995), Tabaré Vázquez (2005-2010, 2015-2020) and José Mujica (2010-2015) have made a joint statement, expressing solidarity to the Armenian people.

“On the occasion of terrible incidents taking place in the South Caucasus, we are expressing our historic solidarity to the Armenian people and our wish for the resumption of talks immediately aimed at reaching the ceasefire, peace, as well as the lasting solution to this conflict”, the statement says.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

[Yervant1]

Azerbaijan’s policy of ethnic cleansing is doomed to failure – Armenia MFA

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13:15, 29 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan’s policy of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing is doomed to failure and will meet the decisive resistance of the Artsakh people, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Foreign Ministry reminded that in the past three days the peaceful settlements of Nagorno Karabakh are under constant Azerbaijani missile, artillery strikes, UAV attacks and bombardments of the military air force.

Since October 28 to now Stepanakert, Shushi and Martakert are under constant targeting. Stepanakert and Martakert are the hardest hit, as a result of which peaceful population is suffering a huge damage, civilian infrastructure are being demolished. “During the pandemic hospitals and other medical facilities are hit. There are numerous casualties and wounded. These war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani regime against the peaceful population are accompanied by direct involvement of Turkey and international terrorists and aim at eliminating the Armenian people in Nagorno Karabakh”, the MFA said.

Despite the calls of the international community and the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, Azerbaijan stubbornly rejects the implementation of ceasefire agreements and the installation of ceasefire observation verification mechanisms in the conflict zone.

“Seeking to carry out its genocidal plan and avoiding its responsibility, Azerbaijan at the same time has launched a campaign based on frauds and falsifications to mislead the international community.

Azerbaijan’s policy of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing is doomed to failure and will continue to meet the resolute resistance of the people of Artsakh which will be carried out with all necessary means for self-defense”, the statement says.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

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‘How long are we going to close our eyes on Turkish expansionism?’ – French MP

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13:05, 29 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. French lawmaker Valérie Boyer is concerned over the fact why France is not imposing tough sanctions on Turkey.

The MP posted a video on social media and stated that Turks in the French city of Vienne have attacked the police. “Turks attacked the police and want to catch Armenians as they did in 1915. How long France will stay neutral? How long are we going to close our eyes on the Turkish expansionism?” the French MP said.

On October 28 Turks attacked Armenian peaceful protesters with a knife in France.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

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Thousands of bodies decompose as Azerbaijan displays total disregard for own troops

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12:53, 29 October, 2020

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The bodies of thousands of Azerbaijani servicemen who were killed in action are decomposing in various sections of the frontline due to Azerbaijan’s total disregard for the fate of its own troops, and meanwhile the Azeri military continues to violate the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries-facilitated cessation of hostilities agreement which envisaged the exchange of bodies, POWs and other detainees.

The Ministry of Defense of Artsakh released a video (Viewer Discretion Advised) showing highly disturbing images of multiple bodies of Azeri troops left unattended by Azerbaijan itself.

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“With such behavior the Azeri military-political regime shows that it doesn’t care not only for international humanitarian law norms, but also for the bodies and the memory of its own troops,” the Artsakh Defense Ministry said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

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Turkish mob armed with improvised weapons chant death threats, search for Armenians in Lyon, France

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12:00, 29 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. A mob of hundreds of Turkish nationalists took to the streets overnight in Lyon, France searching for Armenians and chanting death threats. The incident follows the attack on a peaceful Armenian demonstration earlier on October 28.

A Lyon citizen, Natali Bianco, said on social media that the Turkish mob was armed with baseball bats, pipes and other improvised weapons. “In just a few minutes we saw how hundreds of Turkish young people were causing chaos in the city center, waving flags, baseball bats, pipes and smoke. They stormed into the city center chanting “death to Armenians”, “Allah Akbar”, and other slogans. They were obviously looking to start a fight and were threatening passersby who were daring to even look at them.”

Many of them were gesturing the sign of the Grey Wolves, the Turkish ultranationalist organization. Police were dispatched to the scene. The eyewitness said she was “shocked” from the half-hour long “war”.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

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Senate motion calls on Canada to recognize independence of Nagorno-Karabakh

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Sen. Housakos's motion would make the Senate the first legislative body in the world to recognize the region

Levon Sevunts · Radio Canada International · Posted: Oct 29, 2020 3:25 PM ET | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

A woman sits next to her wounded child during shelling by Armenian forces daughter at a hospital in Barda, Azerbaijan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. (Aziz Karimov/Associated Press)

Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos is calling on Canada to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh and "immediately condemn the joint Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression" against the breakaway Armenian-populated region in the South Caucasus.

In a motion presented in the Senate on Tuesday, Housakos called upon the federal government to "recognize the Republic of Artsakh's inalienable right to self-determination and, in light of the increased escalation and continued targeting of innocent Armenian civilians, recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh." (Nagorno-Karabakh is also known as Artsakh in Armenian.)

The non-binding motion also calls on Ottawa to "uphold a permanent ban on military exports to Turkey."

If the motion is passed, it would be a significant symbolic victory for the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

It also would make Canada's Senate the first national legislative body in the world to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh, whose majority Armenian population has governed itself with economic and military support from neighbouring Armenia since declaring independence from Azerbaijan in December of 1991, in the dying days of the Soviet Union.

Azerbaijan has never recognized the legitimacy of the 1991 referendum and maintains that, under international law, Nagorno-Karabakh is an inalienable part of the country.

Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos's motion, if passed, would be a symbolic victory for Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

In a speech on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday, Housakos said he has been watching with "grave concern" the ongoing conflict between Armenian troops and what he called Azerbaijani forces backed by Turkey and "foreign jihadist mercenaries."

On Sept. 27, fierce fighting broke out all along the "Line of Contact" when Azerbaijan launched a massive offensive to reconquer the self-declared republic, as well as seven districts of Azerbaijan proper that ended up under Armenian control following the war in the early 1990s. The Line of Contact had separated Azerbaijani and Armenian forces since the 1994 ceasefire.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has voiced strong support for Azerbaijan and condemned the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group — Russia, France and the U.S. — for failing to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict in over a quarter of a century of talks.

Armenia has accused Turkey repeatedly of supplying Azerbaijan with arms (including drones equipped with Canadian technology and F-16 fighter jets), military advisers and jihadist Syrian mercenaries — an accusation supported by French President Emmanuel Macron and the head of Russia's foreign intelligence service.

Medical workers transport a wounded man in a hospital during shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. (AP)

Three recent attempts by Russia, France and the U.S. to broker a humanitarian ceasefire have failed so far to end the fighting — which is estimated to have killed more than five thousand soldiers and over 100 civilians on both sides in just over a month.

"Make no mistake, if the ongoing war continues and the Turkish-backed Azerbaijani forces and foreign jihadist mercenaries enter the Republic of Artsakh, a second genocide of the Armenian people will take place," Housakos said, referring to the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey.

Upholding the right to self-determination and recognizing the Republic of Artsakh as a free, sovereign state is the only viable and long-lasting solution to this conflict, he added.

• U.S.-backed truce between Armenia, Azerbaijan crumbles as Nagorno-Karabakh fighting resumes

• Bombardier Recreational Products suspends delivery of aircraft engines used on military drones

• Armenia claims it found Canadian tech on downed Turkish drone

"And it is the only way we will be able to deter further violence in the region and prevent other conflicts from happening in other parts of the world," Housakos said. "This is the time for Canada to step up and act."

Armenian Canadian organizations applauded Housakos's motion. Hagop Arslanian, vice chair of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), said he wants Canadian senators to put aside geopolitical considerations.

"Artsakh, at this moment, is a human rights issue and Canada has enough moral authority and international gravitas to rightfully address this issue as champion of human rights and dignity," Arslanian said.

Officials with the Turkish and Azerbaijani embassies did not respond to Radio Canada International's request for comment.

Anar Jahangirli, associate director of the Network of Azerbaijani Canadians, called the wording of the motion presented by Sen. Housakos "unfortunate."

"We are calling upon the members of the Senate to reject the motion, given its incongruousness with the basic principles of international law, and Canada's and [the] international community's position of support to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," Jahangirli said.

"'Republic of Artsakh', as referred to in the statement, is a sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, as confirmed by the United Nations and the UN Security Council Resolutions."

The motion also fails to recognize the right of nearly 800,000 Azerbaijanis displaced by the war in 1993-94 to return to their native lands, Jahangirli added.

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WBFO

Oct 29 2020

Armenians mobilize to support troops in Karabakh war, as ceasefires fail

By Andrew Connelly • 1 hour ago

https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/dovetail.prxu.org/300/09dfee26-2286-4258-a64c-55a6ae35dfbb/2020_1027_09.mp3

 

 

 

On a Saturday morning in a downtown school in Yerevan, a classroom has been transformed into a military accessory workshop. Teams of women of all ages weave together camouflage nets to drape over troops, tanks and the cars of volunteers who ferry up supplies to the front line.

Mariam Margaryan lost her job as a tour guide when the clashes began in late September but immediately offered to volunteer. In Armenia, with fewer than 3 million people, the war touches most people directly. Margaryan already lost a friend to the conflict, and her brother is serving in the Armenian military.

“Now, everyone is united, we are together. ...We share grief and hug people we have never met [before].”

Mariam Margaryan, tour guide, Yerevan, Armenia

“Now, everyone is united, we are together,” Margaryan says. “We share grief and hug people we have never met [before].”

Nagorno-Karabakh officials say that 1,166 troops and 39 civilians have been killed since Sept. 27, when the recent clashes began. Azerbaijani authorities have reported 90 civilian deaths while military losses are not disclosed.

Related: Nagorno-Karabakh fighting rages as US hosts talks

Nagorno-Karabakh is widely considered under international law to lie within Azerbaijan. But ethnic Armenians who govern the area have rejected Azeri rule since 1994, following a previous war between the two countries. By the end of that conflict, which left over 30,000 dead, Armenia had also captured several Azerbaijani territories around Nagorno-Karabakh, which act as a buffer zone, but remain contested.

Related: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could spiral into regional war

In the Yerevan classroom, the tiny chairs and brightly colored paintings combined with the busy assembling of material to be used in war creates a jarring scene. Some children also assist in the tying together of the camouflage ribbons.

Irina Minasyan, a local parent, says that it’s impossible to shield young ones from the harsh realities of war.

“They have friends that have passed away,” Irina explains. “It’s not easy to speak about, but we had a student who graduated a year ago and last week was his funeral. All of us have brothers and friends [on the battlefields]. It affects everyone.”

The Azerbaijani bombardment of towns and villages in the de facto independent state of Nagorno-Karabakh has forced tens of thousands of mainly women, children and elderly people to flee into Armenia, while the many men stay behind to fight. Many of the displaced arrive at a Soviet-era community center on the outskirts of Yerevan to register for accommodation.

Hayk Muradyan, from Armenia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, manages the operation.

“Some of them have had their houses destroyed by the bombs, and some still have trauma from the explosions but all of them are sure they will be back as soon as we win the war,” Muradyan explains, staring earnestly over his face mask, adding, “and we will definitely win.”

Inside the shelter, exhausted mothers and old villagers with walking sticks slump on rows of camp beds. Henrik Hakopyan, 80, dressed in a denim jacket and camouflage baseball cap, told The World that he recently escaped the province of Hadrut, which days later would be captured by Azerbaijani forces.

I was at the doctor’s [office] when our forces told us to evacuate, there wasn’t even time to go back home. Everything I collected over the years I had to leave behind as well as money, clothes, my passport even. Thousands have been killed and displaced...so why does the world stay silent?”

Henrik Hakopyan, 80, is a displaced person from Hadrut province, captured by Azerbaijani forces

“I was at the doctor’s [office] when our forces told us to evacuate, there wasn’t even time to go back home. Everything I collected over the years I had to leave behind as well as money, clothes, my passport even. Thousands have been killed and displaced,” Hakopyan holds out his arms, “so why does the world stay silent?”

Anger is brewing in Armenia over the perceived lack of attention being paid to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh by the international community. Last week, thousands marched through Yerevan’s Republic Square to the United Nations headquarters to demand answers.

"Destinies are being ruined. ... These soldiers are 19-, 20-year-old boys and they had dreams, but they are dying. It’s not that they chose to be soldiers, they have to protect and defend.”

Protester Seda Manasyan, 30, attends a protest in Yerevan, Armenia

Protester Seda Manasyan, 30, works in the hotel sector but was too distracted to stay in the office. “Destinies are being ruined,” she said angrily. “These soldiers are 19-, 20-year-old boys and they had dreams, but they are dying. It’s not that they chose to be soldiers, they have to protect and defend.”

For some Armenians, this isn’t their first brush with bloodshed. Elena Dadayan-Romanova was born in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku during the Soviet Union during times when both nationalities lived in each other’s countries. But by the late 1980s, the majority in Nagorno-Karabakh started voting to be united with Armenia, sparking ethnic cleansing and pogroms between Armenians and Azerbaijanis that caused Elena’s family to flee.

Three weeks ago, she escaped the shelling of Stepanakert, the de facto capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, and is displaced again. Now she rents an apartment in Yerevan with her daughter, elderly father-in-law and five grandchildren.

“When I heard the first explosions … early in the morning, we thought it might be military training,” Dadayan-Romanova recalls. “But then we went out on the balcony and saw the smoke rising [and] we headed for the basement.”

In the following days, volunteers from Yerevan came to the border to help evacuate civilians. Initially, Elena’s daughter didn’t want to leave.

“I told her that I have seen this before, I know how it goes and I forced her to come. We don’t know how long we’ll be here and we can’t make plans. All of our thoughts are with our husbands and brothers.”

Despite heavy military losses and devastated civilian areas, there seems no sign of war fatigue on either side. But with an emerging refugee crisis and a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, Armenia is about to enter a long and troubled winter.

https://news.wbfo.org/post/armenians-mobilize-support-troops-karabakh-war-ceasefires-fail