cease-fire violations by azeris

[Yervant1]

davidalton.net, UK

Nov 5 2020

Cross Party Letter to today’s Times calls for the people of Nagorno Karabakh to decide their own future not the displacements and boundaries determined by Stalin or today’s force of arms

Nov 5, 2020

Cross Party Letter to today’s Times calls for the people of Nagorno Karabakh to decide their own future not the displacements and boundaries determined by Stalin or today’s force of armshttps://www.davidalton.net/2020/10/14/uk-says-it-welcomes-russias-role-in-nagorno-karabakh-and-is-deeply-concerned-by-reporting-of-continued-targeting-of-civilian-areas/

Questions raised in Parliament today about allegations of white phosphorous being used against Armenian civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh and the duties of States to prevent genocide. Question also on the treatment of Ramy Kamel – still languishing in an Egyptian jail

Parliament considers the Nagorno-Karabakh genocide emergency alert and Azerbaijan accused of a war crime for bombing a maternity hospital.

A Genocide Emergency Alert has been issued today by Professor Gregory Stanton of Genocide Watch due to Azerbaijan’s aggression against the Armenian Republic of Artsakh, often called Nagorno-Karabakh. Tragically, they are right to do so, and the world has a duty to act.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s carnage – a continuation of the Armenian Genocide.

Poignant music from the bombed out cathedral in Nagorno Karabahk/Artsakh

https://www.davidalton.net/2020/10/13/cross-party-alliance-demands-an-end-to-trade-deals-with-states-complicit-in-genocide/

Civilians and children killed in Turkey’s proxy war

https://www.davidalton.net/2020/10/30/baroness-caroline-cox-the-co-chair-of-the-all-party-parliamentary-group-on-armenia-has-today-issued-a-briefing-note-to-uk-parliamentarians-detailing-the-continuing-atrocities-in-nagorno-karabakh-a/

https://www.davidalton.net/2020/11/05/cross-party-letter-to-todays-times-calls-for-the-people-of-nagorno-karabakh-to-decide-their-own-future-not-the-displacements-and-boundaries-determined-by-stalin-or-todays-force-of-arms/?fbclid=IwAR35OBOj3mY8CDWNS3he_h7muutOFRl2ptrJIfwGzd0G1wU3aSAdJVHSmcM

[Yervant1]

EurasiaNet.org

Nov 6 2020

Stepanakert prepares for the last stand As Azerbaijani forces close in, Karabakh’s Armenian population hunkers down.Adrian Hartrick Nov 6, 2020

Driving in Karabakh (photo: Jonathan Alpeyrie)

“This doesn’t look good.”

We were barreling toward Shusha, in Nagorno-Karabakh, and all along the roadside Armenian soldiers were digging trenches in apparent preparation for the defense of the road, the vital supply corridor for Karabakh’s embattled population.

Directly across the steep valley, the forests on the surrounding mountains were on fire, possibly the result of white-phosphorus shells dropped by Azerbaijani forces to try and flush out Armenian units who were using the forest as cover from drones. The soldiers on the roadside peered at the scene through binoculars, intently monitoring what seemed to be a developing situation in the valley.

One of the fellow journalists in our car had been here just two weeks before and said the situation had dramatically changed since then. “This feels different than last time,” he said. “Let’s see what Stepanakert looks like.”

This was November 3. For several days, Azerbaijani forces had been within about five kilometers of Shusha, clashing with Armenian units in hand-to-hand fighting in the forest. While, the close proximity of the Azerbaijani forces was alarming to those in Shusha, as well as those in the nearby regional capital of Stepanakert, most of us believed that these were small commando units sent to harass the Armenians and that they did not pose a major threat.

But the scene on the road suggested that things were a little less under control than imagined.

As we wound around the base of Shusha’s dramatic cliffs and descended the valley into Stepanakert, we found the city calm and bustling. In spite of the constant threat of Smerch missiles and suicide drones, adults of all ages milled around, buying groceries and running errands.

We got settled and went out to eat. As soon as we sat down, the earth began shaking with the rumble of heavy shelling in the near distance. It was coming from the direction of Shusha.

Fog of war

Even on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh, reliable information can be hard to come by. Rumors swirl, people with contacts at the front receive conflicting news, and the local government tries to maintain a positive face and downplay negative developments.

Late the next morning we got word that the road that we had come in on had been shut down by Armenian forces as a result of clashes around Shusha. With that road, known as the Lachin corridor, the only (relatively) safe way in and out, we were effectively stuck in Karabakh.

Initially we were told that Armenian forces were launching an operation to ‘cleanse’ Azerbaijani commandos from the valley and neutralize any threat to the Lachin road. As the day progressed, the shelling only became more intense. Rumors started arriving that the Azerbaijan commandos in the valley were actually a more sizable fighting force than previously thought and that they included Syrian mercenaries. We weren’t able to verify any of this, but whatever was going on was serious and the mood was bleak.

Groups of foreign and Armenian journalists waited for any information they could and nervously discussed possible options to get out. Local authorities claimed the road would be reopened shortly. But a dark resignation began to show on the faces of officials and civilians around town. It started to feel that the war was closing in on Stepanakert.

A Last Stand

Nervous about the situation, our group gathered at the hotel bar to discuss a contingency plan. We debated whether we should leave immediately on an alternative northern road or wait until morning and continue working in the meantime.

At a neighboring table, a burly Armenian man in battle fatigues was smoking a cigarette and listening to us talk. We asked him what he thought: should we leave?

“It all depends on what your mission is,” the man, Artur, said. “This is a fight for our survival and it is important for you to be here to show what is going on. My mission is to hopefully be a hero for my motherland. What is your mission?”

One of my colleagues answered: “We want to cover what’s happening here to a point that we can cover it. If we’re dead, we’re no use to anybody”

“There are many journalists still here reporting and I consider them heroes, not for Artsakh [Nagorno Karabakh], but for their profession,” Artur answered back. “If you leave, no one will know what is happening here. You should stay.”

The conversation was respectful, but we knew Artur was coming from a different reality. Armenians have paid in blood to stay in Karabakh. Nearly every family in the enclave has lost members to war and their conviction is unwavering.

Deciding to stay the evening, we visited a basement shelter where some elderly Karabakhtsis have been living since the war began. “My son was injured in the first war [in the 1990s] and my grandson was killed in the second [2016],” said 70-year-old Arageh. “My sister’s son was killed…I have six men from my family on the frontlines at this moment.”

Across the room another woman chimed in: “Journalists always come here and talk to us, but the world doesn’t listen to us, do you think talking to you will save us?” A bitter and tearful 84-year-old, Isabella, declared: “I have always lived here…this is my land. My house has been damaged, I have nothing, but I will never leave.”

In the streets outside, it started to feel that a last stand was near.

Local Armenians likely will fight to the last man. This is a war built on layers of brutality. The Karabakh conflict of the 1990’s saw cruelty visited by both sides on each other. Armenians living in Azerbaijan were forced to flee to Armenia and vice versa. The eventual Armenian victory in that war resulted in the exodus of more than 600,000 Azerbaijani civilians from the newly captured territories. The Azerbaijani mood is vengeful, and should the effort to take back Karabakh succeed, it is likely the Armenian presence in Karabakh will end.

Escape

After another long night of shelling, I and the driver made an early morning attempt to leave Karabakh by the alternative, northern road back to Armenia. Our colleagues chose to stay.

After a tense drive, scanning the skies for Azerbaijani drones and artillery, we arrived to the safety of Armenia’s Lake Sevan.

Checking the news from Stepanakert, it was getting more dire: the city was suffering under an unprecedented level of shelling.

“It was right for you to leave,” the driver told me when we got back to Yerevan. “In two days, I’m heading back.”

https://eurasianet.org/stepanakert-prepares-for-the-last-stand?fbclid=IwAR3fc_VzGHiKg8dnba6nqXxaMoCp-uXZZpqIfwBPWaGA4TXeOvz49BdJQcM

[Yervant1]

Rolling Stone

Nov 5 2020

Hear System of a Down’s First New Music in 15 Years, ‘Protect the Land’ and ‘Genocidal Humanoidz’

With Azerbaijan waging war against the homeland of the band members’ ancestors, the group decided to strike back and use its music to raise funds for its countrymen

By KORY GROW

It took a war for System of a Down to record new music. After seeing the country of Azerbaijan start a conflict with Armenia in September, the musicians, who are all of Armenian descent, rushed into the studio to record two new songs, “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz,” to draw attention to the crisis in their ancestral homeland.

The band will donate proceeds from the songs, which come out Friday, to aid Armenians, and it is soliciting fans to donate to the Armenia Fund, which provides humanitarian relief to the region. Both songs are available on the group’s Bandcamp page.

Fifteen years have passed since the Grammy-winning alt-metal group released their last record, Hypnotize. When it came out, it was an instant hit, the second of two System albums to debut at Number One in 2005. But despite their success, they have not been able to agree on a path forward ever since. Their singer, Serj Tankian, had asked for a more democratic songwriting process — guitarist-vocalist Daron Malakian wrote nearly everything — but they couldn’t reach a meeting of the minds. They have since toured together and remained friends, but internally, the struggle for creative control has seemed insurmountable.

The band decided to put its differences aside last month after war broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mostly ethnic-Armenian region of Azerbaijan that Armenians call “Artsakh.” It covers about 1,700 square miles of mountainous terrain, and it has had a long, bloody history that has scarred the people who live there. A previous war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended with a cease-fire and Armenians in control of the region in 1994. Azerbaijan initiated another war this past September after its president, Ilham Aliyev, took umbrage with Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan’s claim this past spring that Nagorno-Karabakh was wholly Armenian. Russia, France, and the United States have each attempted to mediate cease-fires between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but none have stuck.

Armenia, a country of about 3 million, is well-outnumbered by Azerbaijan, which has 10 million citizens, a stronger military, and aid from Turkey, Armenia’s longtime foe since the 1915 Armenian Genocide, which was propagated by Ottoman Turks. The prime minister of Armenia, which has received support from Russia, suggested that Azerbaijan has recruited mercenaries from Syria, although the latter country denies it. The organization Human Rights Watch has claimed that Azerbaijan has used banned weapons and cluster munitions in its fight (it says Armenia used or supplied cluster munitions used in an attack as well), and the British newspaper, Morning Star, has reported on an Azerbaijani soldier who beheaded an Armenian soldier and taunted his family with it. The U.N. has warned that attacks on citizens in the area could be considered war crimes.

The band believes that Azerbaijan planned out the timing of the attack to coincide with news coverage focusing on the U.S. election and the response to Covid-19. And even though System don’t all share the same politics — Tankian has voiced support for Democrats, and drummer John Dolmayan (the singer’s brother-in-law) supports Trump — they decided to put those differences aside as well, since they believe the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh transcends American politics.

“What I would like [Trump] to do is protect the interests of the United States but, at the same, time protect the values of the United States and what we stand for,” Dolmayan tells Rolling Stone. “There’s injustice happening. We can’t just enter into conflict for monetary reasons. I get that we have to think of the interest for the [u.S.] going forward, but we have to walk the walk and talk the talk. Don’t be a hypocrite.”

“This is gruesome shit that’s going on,” bassist Shavo Odadjian says. “There’s nothing humane about it. They’re not saying, ‘Oh, leave our lands. We’ll be so polite to help you leave.’ They’re massacring people and doing all sorts of cowardly, disgusting things. And that just touches all of us [in the band].”

“It’s totally a David and Goliath situation,” Malakian adds. “Armenia can’t do this by themselves.”

“I have been to Artsakh twice,” Tankian recalls. “It’s just beautiful countryside, and it’s just really sad seeing all of that destroyed right now and the people having to move. The people are just incredible there. They’re the old Armenians. They have been living on those lands since 500 B.C. They’re very strong and beautiful and funny. They don’t get scared, man. They’ve seen this before, but it’s really, really ***ed up.”

Dolmayan remembers watching the war unfold and feeling sick. “I had a lot of feelings of anger and powerlessness, and then I thought back to how my ancestors must have felt during the genocide,” he says. After years of disappointment with the state of System of a Down, he had come to terms with the fact that the group would never record together again. But the horrors he was seeing inspired him to pick up his phone at 10 o’clock at night on the first Sunday in October and reach out to his bandmates.

“I sent a text to the other three guys, and said, ‘Irrespective of your feelings for each other and the past, we have to put everything aside and get in the studio and create a song for our people to bring attention to the situation and galvanize the forces of good worldwide,'” he recalls. “And I got pretty positive responses.”

Odadjian was an easy yes. He had been watching news reports about the war and felt the same way. In fact, he was just about ready to send his own text when he got the drummer’s note.

Tankian decided that drawing attention to the war was worth letting his guard down. “I’m not doing this as an artist for myself or for System of a Down or for any of the guys in the band; we’re all doing this for our people,” he says. “So this is not a creative decision, this is not a business decision. This is a decision of activism, and that takes precedence over all other things for us.”

“If we don’t do this, there isn’t any other huge Armenian rock band out there that’s gonna do this,” Malakian says. “There aren’t that many big Armenian celebrities out there that are going to do this. It’s kind of a duty. We came together because our country needed us, not necessarily because we’re so amped to do a brand-new System of a Down song. Our people needed us to do this.”

Malakian sent his bandmates “Protect the Land,” a hard-charging anthem he had earmarked for the next album by his other group, Scars on Broadway, and the rest of System felt it spoke perfectly to how they felt. The track opens with a slow-churning guitar riff and Malakian and Tankian harmonizing lyrics that ask listeners what they would do if someone tried to push them from their homes. “Would you stay and take a stand?” they ask mournfully. “Would you stay with gun in hand? They protect the land.” To drive it home, when they repeat those questions later, Malakian runs his hands up his guitar neck, imitating the sound of bombs falling.

The guitarist wrote the song about a year and a half ago after he had penned another song about tensions around Artsakh called “Lives” for his 2018 LP, Dictator. “We used [‘Lives’] to raise money to have first-aid kits sent to Artsakh because I heard soldiers and civilians needed them,” he says. “So that’s how the topic for [‘Protect the Land’] came into my mind; the people and soldiers of Artsakh were in my thoughts.”

They cut the song within a week of Dolmayan’s initial text, and Odadjian immediately began work on the track’s video in private, filming different generations of Armenian descendants while telling them that he was making a documentary about the Armenian diaspora that spread across the globe after the genocide. “I brought in everyone from every age,” he says of the clip. “We have babies, my two sons, the high priest of L.A., doctors, cab drivers, and soldiers in the video. At the same time, we have people in Armenia in Artsakh filming on the frontlines of the war going on. So the message is, ‘I know we’re thousands of miles away, but we stand with our troops and we stand for this one common cause as Armenians.'” The clip features footage of soldiers on the frontlines, a well as shots of the band with projections of some of the footage Odadjian shot superimposed over their faces, similar to the band’s “Toxicity” clip.

The band’s manager thought “Protect the Land” captured the importance of the moment but urged them to record another, heavier tune to complement it. Three or four years ago, Malakian, Dolmayan, and Odadjian convened for a jam session that produced several songs, but they abandoned them when Tankian wouldn’t commit to an album. One of the standouts was the Malakian-penned “Genocidal Humanoidz,” a fast, punky number about fighting back against the devil. This time, all four members agreed to record the song. Malakian sings, “Persecution ends now,” midway through and cocks his guitar like a gun before the band whips through a whirlwind of black-metal riffs, and Tankian asks, “Guess who’s coming over to dinner? The genocidal humanooooiids.” It’s a whole other mood that captures the spasmodic unpredictability of the band’s best music.

“The song really matched up well [with ‘Protect the Land’],” Malakian says. “The original lyrics are pretty close to what we recorded. The original line [in ‘Genocidal Humanoidz’] was, ‘Terrorists are coming, and they’re never going to stop,’ so to make it fit, I changed it to, ‘Terrorists we’re fighting, and we’re never gonna stop.’ And the word ‘humanoids’ came to me from the late wrestling manager Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan. He used to call the audience a bunch of humanoids, like a bunch of idiots. I had to change very little with the wording to make it work with the message we’re trying to send out now.”

Even though they hadn’t all been in a studio together in more than a decade, tracking the songs went surprisingly smoothly and quickly. Within a few days of deciding to record, each musician started arranging his own part — Tankian developed his harmonies for “Protect the Land” while still in New Zealand, where he lives part-time — and the singer flew to Los Angeles on October 11th to join everyone in the studio. They finished tracking the cuts that week.

“This was something that was bigger than any issue we’ve ever had with System,” Odadjian says. “We had to put everything away and say, ‘We’ve got to get together because, when we speak after 15 years, people will listen.’ People will be like, ‘Whoa, these guys came back? For what?'”

Each of the band members expressed fears that Azerbaijanis, who are predominantly Muslim, view the war against Armenia, a Christian nation, as a holy war and that the conflict could escalate into another genocide. By bringing attention to the war, they hope their fans will contact their representatives in government and ask them to intervene. “Make your voice heard and talk about this injustice and say you’d like to see Turkey and Azerbaijan sanctioned,” Tankian says. “You’d like to see the perpetrators punished. It doesn’t take money or military to do that, it just takes economic pressure on those countries to back off because they’re the aggressors.”

System of a Down also hope to aid humanitarian efforts in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. “We’ve been doing this as a global diaspora and Armenian community, but we need the help because our adversaries have oil and natural gas and they’ve been spending billions of dollars on their military,” the singer says. “We need financial help to take care of our people that are in bomb shelters in Artsakh and families whose children are not in school. And there’s an incredible spike [in Covid-19 cases] in Armenia, which is very dangerous and scary. So it’s a really horrible humanitarian catastrophe that needs to be addressed.”

Although Dolmayan is excited that he got his band back together for the cause, he says fans should not expect more music or a new album. “If it was up to me, we’d have a new album every three years,” he says. “But things aren’t up to me. I’m at the mercy of my team, and although I fought for it for many years with band members, I’ve accepted that it is what it is. We do have five albums and [now] two songs. We’ve accomplished a lot in our careers. If it ends at that, so be it.”

Tankian, who has shelved a solo EP, Elasticity, that he had planned to release this fall, has no plans to work on new music with System or anyone else until the conflict is resolved. “I can’t think of anything [else] right now — not my own music, not System’s music,” he says. “I’m focused on what’s going on with the war and praying for a cease-fire so there can be negotiations. I’m just focused on this because it’s a life-and-death situation.”

But some of his bandmates are more hopeful that System will resume at some point in the future. “I’m proud that we did this,” Odadjian says. “I wish we could get in and do more. Maybe this could lead to that, maybe it can’t. I’ve always been optimistic, though.”

“I never say never,” Malakian says. “I didn’t expect this. I was ready to put out my next Scars record. This kind of happened out of the blue, so who knows. If we don’t record again, then I’ll just keep doing what I do and everyone else will keep doing what they do. But it was nice to do this.” He’s mostly happy the band members could move past their issues long enough for the good of their ancestral homeland. “I’m not a soldier, but I feel like I’m a part of this,” he says. “The way I’m going to contribute is through my songs.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/system-of-a-down-new-songs-protect-the-land-genocidal-humanoidz-1085942/?fbclid=IwAR1-NBE3LMVs1V9Rpu5-AM5hIFdplCN_6kTV3Y1o-xEstehqzG9EgbflWu4

[Yervant1]

Greek City Times

Nov 6 2020

Didymoteicho Municipality condemns Turkish aggression against “brotherly Armenian people”by Paul Antonopoulos

A Municipality on the Greek-Turkish border in Evros passed a resolution in support of the Armenian people and condemned the Azeri-Turkish aggression against Artsakh.

The small municipality of only about 20,000 people passed the resolution on Tuesday.

The resolution states:

“The Municipality of Didymoteicho, during a meeting of October 26, took into account the role of the Armenian community in the Municipality, issued a unanimous resolution, denouncing the military invasion of Artsakh and declared its solidarity with the brotherly Armenian people who are being tested.”

The Armenian people, who played an important role and are an important part of the Municipality of Didymoteicho, are brutally affected by the Azeri-Turkish attack and this resolution by the Municipality condemns the latest act of violence, while denouncing the parties involved.”

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/11/07/didymoteicho-turkish-armenian/

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Nov 6 2020

Unity is the guarantee of our victory, Armenia’s President says

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian believes our unity is the guarantee of our victory.

“I have often been asked how we managed to win with our unhealed wounds, a devastated economy and almost unarmed after the earthquake thirty years ago,” the President said in an address.

“Our victory may have seemed impossible to some people, but not to us.
Thirty years ago, we did not have a strong economy, roads, fuel, we did not have enough weapons. However, we won because we had the most powerful weapon, ourselves and our unity,” the President noted.

Address by Armen Sarkissian, President of the Republic of Armenia, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.

 

Dear compatriots,

For more than a month, Artsakh, Armenia, and the entire Armenian people have been fighting in a patriotic war, a war unleashed by Azerbaijan and Turkey, and a war against international terrorism.

Our brave military units and volunteers fight selflessly, without sparing their lives.

They are fighting for freedom and dignity, for their Homeland.

We bow to our fallen heroes and their families.

My condolences to all mothers and fathers who lost their sons, wives who lost their husbands,
sisters who lost their brothers, grandparents who lost their grandchildren…

For us victory in this war means defending our home, our culture, our values, and our faith,

it means doing everything to prevent a second genocide,

It means a war for the memory of our heroes, the memory of our martyred heroes …

The patriotic war that started about 30 years ago continues.

I have often been asked how we managed to win with our unhealed wounds, a devastated economy and almost unarmed after the earthquake thirty years ago.

Our victory may have seemed impossible to some people, but not to us.
Thirty years ago, we did not have a strong economy, roads, fuel, we did not have enough weapons.

However, we won because we had the most powerful weapon, ourselves and our unity.
Even today, some people ask me: what is the guarantee of our victory today?

My answer has not changed: our unity.

I want to urge our political forces, politicians and public figures:

Be united and consolidated as people,

follow the example of the people …

Dear compatriots,

Besides the enemy attacking Artsakh, we have another enemy, the coronavirus epidemic, which takes lives every day.

My condolences to the families and relatives of our compatriots who fell victim to the epidemic.

In the fight against coronavirus, too, victory depends on us, on how united, consolidated, organized and disciplined we will be …

I would like to express my special thanks to the vanguard of this struggle, to all health care workers, from doctors to nurses and male nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers and technical staff, who selflessly fight the coronavirus day and night. They are on the fore of another front …

Dear compatriots in Artsakh, Armenia and in the Diaspora,

Thank you for all your efforts and aspirations, for your compassion and warmth, for your unity and organization, for your support that you provide in various ways and means.

Continue your support, material and moral, through donation and charity, connections and knowledge, your direct participation or remote presence.

Realizing the seriousness of the moment and the urgency of uniting around the homeland, all the Armenians immediately joined in the work of the All-Armenian Fund, which turned into a nationwide movement.

I would like to thank all the donors from the Diaspora and Armenia.

Making donations to the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, you are helping to address the plight of Artsakh families and refugees in Armenia, and to rebuild destroyed schools and homes.

I call on all Armenian businessmen, benefactors, unions, organizations, individuals living in Armenia, throughout the Diaspora, to do their utmost for the security of the Armenian people.

Our hope is ourselves and our true friends.

We will build our victory together.

God bless Artsakh, Armenia and all our people.

https://en.armradio.am/2020/11/06/unity-is-the-guarantee-of-our-victory-armenias-president-says/

[Yervant1]

Civil Georgia

Nov 6 2020

Report: Abkhazia Armenians Go to War in Karabakh

06/11/2020 - 16:09

Akhra Avidzba, former Donbas militant turned aide to Abkhaz leader Aslan Bzhania, wrote on November 6 that ethnic Armenian volunteers from Russian-occupied Abkhazia are heading to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Photos posted by Avidzba shows the volunteers departing from Russia’s Sochi International Airport, located some 10 kilometers away from Abkhazia section of Russo-Georgian border.

Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians, resumed on September 27. The ongoing war, deadliest since the end of original Karabakh war in 1994, claimed thousands of lives, including those of civilians on both sides.

https://civil.ge/archives/380904

[Yervant1]

Politico

Nov 6 2020

Greenberg Traurig drops Turkey

By THEODORIC MEYER 11/06/2020 02:58 PM EST

With Daniel Lippman

FIRST IN PI — GREENBERG TRAURIG DROPS TURKEY: The law and lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig has cut ties with the Turkish government under pressure from Armenian-American activists furious over Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan in its ongoing hostilities with Armenia. The firm sent an internal email this week announcing that it had terminated its relationship with Turkey on Oct. 29, according to a person who saw the email. The firm declined to comment. The Turkish embassy in Washington didn’t respond to a request for comment.

— Greenberg Traurig’s decision to drop Turkey comes after Mercury Public Affairs scrapped its $1 million contract with the Turkish government following a pressure campaign waged by the Armenian National Committee of America and the Armenian Assembly of America. Armenian-American activists want to deprive Turkey and Azerbaijan of support in Washington as Armenia and Azerbaijan battle over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Greenberg Traurig has lobbied for the Turkish government in Washington for years and renewed its contract — worth more than $1.5 million a year — in January, according to a copy filed with the Justice Department. Former Reps. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) and Al Wynn (D-Md.) were among the Greenberg Traurig lobbyists who represented the country, according to disclosure filings.

— The push to convince firms to drop Turkey and Azerbaijan is reminiscent of the campaign to force Saudi Arabia's Washington lobbying and public relations firms to stop working for the kingdom after Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Washington Post, where Khashoggi had been a contributing opinion writer, threatened to bar two lobbyists from writing columns for the paper unless their firms stopped working for Saudi Arabia — which the firms ultimately did.

— Aram Hamparian, the Armenian National Committee’s executive director, told POLITICO after Mercury dropped Turkey that he planned to pressure another lobbying firm, BGR Group, to stop representing Azerbaijan. But BGR said in a statement at the time that it “intends to continue its representation of Azerbaijan." Instead, Azerbaijan has gotten more help in Washington. A limited-liability company based in Baku, Azerbaijan, Investment Corporation, hired two more firms, Portland PR and the S-3 Group, last month in support of the company’s work on behalf of the Azerbaijani government.

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2020/11/06/greenberg-traurig-drops-turkey-791451?fbclid=IwAR2Jz8NXk-VxcXJkC8X7iqT6OxH8WfAmK-48XX9kudkoAeDMfXixNx1fWMo

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Asbarez.com

 

WATCH: The Hydra of Terrorism

November 6, 2020

[see video]

The documentary “The Hydra of Terrorism” talks about the new hotbed of terrorists set up in Azerbaijan. Jihadists from Syria, Libya and Pakistan are transferred here to engage in the war against the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In Azerbaijan itself bases and camps are also set up to transfer terrorists to different regions as well. Over the past month they were already discovered in Russia. Today Turkey is the center that sponsors, arms, trains and transfers militant mercenaries. Facts, evidence and testimonies of the terrorists themselves are presented in the documentary film “The Hydra of Terrorism”.

http://asbarez.com/198308/watch-the-hydra-of-terrorism/?fbclid=IwAR21vvCZnnFDfxHe4B29eSjpDYsDC2hWTBQAvR7rFAXwzbjtcw8FfYt5kEU

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Armenia official speaks on reports on transport of Azerbaijani special forces detachments from Nakhichevan

09:24, 07.11.2020

Region:Armenia, Karabakh, Azerbaijan
Theme: Politics

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Armenian forces destroyed Colonel Teheran Mensimov, Chief Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinonyan writes about this on his Facebook page.

“Two days ago the azers disseminated info regarding the transport of their special forces detachments from Nakhichevan to "mainland" azerbaijan. Heading this detachment was colonel Tehran Mensimov who, in August, was in charge of the Nakhichevan troops during turkish-axeri exercises.

Set aside the fact that the azeris are running so low on well trained troops that they're having to expose their western front and move SOFs to the Artsakh front. The real news is that just two days after being transported, colonel Mensimov was liquidated on the Hadrut front. The last photo is from azeri telegram declaring him a "sehid." BTW, the telegram page entitled "Sehidlar" quotes dictator ilham aliev in Russian: "There's no war without casualties." I guess that's ok so long as noone from his corrupt degenerate family is at risk,” he wrote.

Armenia News - NEWS.am

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French MPs apply to President Macron calling on to recognize Artsakh’s independence

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15:48, 7 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. 39 members of the National Assembly of France have applied to President Emmanuel Macron, calling on not to show neutrality on the Nagorno Karabakh issue and recognize the independence of Artsakh, MP Guy Teissier said on Twitter.

In their call addressed to the French President, the MPs stated that only the international recognition, as in Kosovo’s case, will enable Artsakh to get out of the zone which doesn’t allow to get international, humanitarian support.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

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Azerbaijani military death toll reaches 7510

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11:44, 7 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. The death toll in the Azerbaijani military as a result of the large-scale aggression launched against Artsakh since September 27 has reached 7510, the Armenian Unified Info Center reports.

As for the military equipment, the losses of the Azerbaijani side include 262 UAVs, 16 helicopters, 25 warplanes, 749 armored equipment and 6 TOS launchers.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

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Posters calling for recognition of Artsakh installed in US streets

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10:03, 7 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Posters calling for peace, recognition of Artsakh, as well as the flag of Artsakh have been installed in the streets of the United States.

The initiative belongs to the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The flag of Artsakh, with a call to recognize Artsakh, is attached to a big poster in the central part of one of the highways of the US city of Paterson.

Another poster posted in one of the streets of LA calls for standing by Armenians today because tomorrow it will be late.

The next poster calls for peace to Armenia.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 

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Public Radio of Armenia

Nov 7 2020

Battles continue in the immediate vicinity of Shushi

Battles continue in the immediate vicinity of Shushi, official representative of Armenia’s Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisyan told a daily briefing.

“The enemy has employed new forces and means to continue with the plans to capture Shushi. At this point, our troops are stubbornly resisting, inflicting considerable losses on the rival, but the battles are fierce and continuous,” he said.

He added that the fighting continues on the directions leading to Shushi – Karin Tak, Lisagor and other sections.

“In the direction of Martuni, the Azerbaijani armed forces tried to attack with the help of armored vehicles, but after losing one or two units of armored vehicles, they were thrown back to the initial positions, leaving corpses,” Hovhannisyan said.

“Fighting took place south of Berdzor. They tried several times but failed. Our subdivisions managed to make some improvements in that direction,” the official representative of the Defense Ministry said.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2020/11/07/battles-continue-in-the-immediate-vicinity-of-shushi/

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Public Radio of Armenia

Nov 7 2020

World War III is on its way in the form of hybrid warfare – Armenian PM

World War III is on its way in the form of hybrid warfare that is spreading in all directions, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with German ARD TV.

He said “this war is equally directed against Christians, against Muslims, against Jews.”

The full text of the interview is provided below:

Question: I would like to start from 2018, when the tide of democratic protest resulted in a peaceful change of government in Armenia. Did you think that a war would break out two years later?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – In fact, as I was still a member of parliament, I do not remember whether it was in 2015, 2016, or maybe in 2017, I predicted that the war was inevitable. Why, because war has always been Azerbaijan’s goal. And why was the war sought by Azerbaijan, because it was not prepared for finding a compromise-based solution to the Karabakh issue. Because compromise means you have to step back from your maximalist objectives.

Azerbaijan’s not being ready to compromise was vividly evidenced in 2011. I mean the Kazan process, when in fact a document was tabled by which the Armenian side agreed to hand over 5 regions in exchange for Nagorno-Karabakh receiving an interim status, which might be determined later through a referendum or a plebiscite.

And this was a significant concession from the Armenian side, because it contained some uncertainty for the security of the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh. But the Armenian side took that step, the document had already been negotiated, and it was ready for signing, but at the last moment Azerbaijan refused to sign the document.

And this is not just a separate episode, but a methodology, a modus operandi for Azerbaijan, because what appears to be acceptable for Armenia and Karabakh following the logic of compromise turns out to be unacceptable for Azerbaijan, which toughens its position. This has always been the case with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has always been prepared to resolve the Karabakh issue through military means.

A provocation took place on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border in July, 2020, which led Azerbaijan to realize that its armed forces were incapable of resolving the Karabakh issue, and consequently it had to turn to mercenaries and terrorists for assistance.

And what happened next? In August, mercenaries, terrorists, a large number of Turkish military equipment, specialists and soldiers moved from the Syrian territories under Turkish control to Azerbaijan, where they launched a joint offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh.

Question: What did you mean by saying “Karabakh is Armenia” during a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh as it was seen as a provocation by Azerbaijan?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – You see, it has to do with the background of the Karabakh issue. Unfortunately, at some point the international community lost track of the Karabakh issue. Meanwhile, at the time when the Karabakh issue emerged, it was seen as a manifestation of Soviet Union’s democratization in Europe and around the world, which ultimately lead to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

The Karabakh issue arose in 1988, when Gorbachev undertook to rebuild and democratize the Soviet Union. And the Armenians of Karabakh, who have always been more than 80% of the population in Nagorno-Karabakh, decided to benefit from the opportunity provided by the ongoing democratization process to restore their violated rights through a completely peaceful political struggle.

What rights do I mean? In the 1920s, with an 80 percent of Armenian population, Nagorno-Karabakh was handed over to Soviet Azerbaijan instead of Soviet Armenia. In 1988, the Supreme Council of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region decided to reunite with Soviet Armenia, which was its legitimate right. A similar decision was adopted by the Supreme Council of Armenia. The Soviet Union and Azerbaijan responded with violence to these absolutely peaceful political decisions, first by organizing massacres of Armenians in Sumgait and then in Baku.

Now about whether Nagorno-Karabakh is Armenia. Armenia means a country where Armenians live, a country of Armenians. Those who have ever been to Nagorno-Karabakh have seen Armenian churches dating back to the 5th century and later. The first Armenian school was opened in Nagorno-Karabakh; 80% of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh has always been Armenian. You say “provocation…,” but the point is that Azerbaijan has always considered a “provocation” the fact there are Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, which made it resort to aggressive actions, shell civilian settlements. In fact, they are fighting against that “provocation.”

In general, let me tell you that the existence of Armenians itself is considered a “provocation” by some countries, including Turkey where – in the Ottoman Empire – the Armenian Genocide was perpetrated in 1915 and vast areas were evicted of Armenians through genocide.

My assessment is that Turkey has returned to the South Caucasus 100 years later to complete that criminal plan. I do not consider it a manifestation of anti-Armenian sentiments; it is just the continuation of Turkey’s expansionary, imperialistic policy, because the Armenians in the South Caucasus are the last obstacle on their way to expanding towards the north, to the east, and to the south-east.

I see this in the context of the policy that Turkey is pursuing in the Mediterranean, in Syria, Iraq, Greece and Cyprus, as well as in the context of those Turkey-backed acts of terrorism we can today witness in Europe.

Question: When you stood in opposition some years ago you were against Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Union and you were ready to protest against it. After becoming Prime Minister you started working closely with Moscow. After all, are you pro-European or pro-Russian?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – Yes, I voted against Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union, but first there was an episode in my parliamentary activity when I also voted against the process of Armenia’s withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union. And assuming the post of Prime Minister, I decided with our people that there will be no geopolitical upheavals after the revolution.

In fact, it was a collective decision. Let me state that U-turns in foreign policy can often be very dangerous. And yes, today we are a member of the Eurasian Economic Union; last year Armenia was the presiding nation, and I personally chaired the Eurasian Economic Union, the presidency of the Eurasian Economic Union was quite effective, because we signed a number of new agreements. But we are cooperating with the European Union as well, since our democratic agenda has not changed at all.

Question: You are in regular contact with Putin. What specific support do you expect from Russia?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – We are actually getting the assistance we expected from Russia; we do not have any reservations as to Russia’s compliance with its security-related commitments to Armenia.

But on the other hand, we understand that Russia is first of all an OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing nation, and therefore is supposed to maintain a neutral position on the Nagorno Karabakh issue. Russia has good relations with Azerbaijan. Of course, this is not a simple situation, but we are satisfied with the quality of Russia’s fulfillment of its obligations to Armenia.

Question: What about Russian peacekeepers in Kharabakh?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – This is a key issue. I said that the deployment of Russian peacekeepers is acceptable for us. The issue here is not so much political, but practical, because we should bear in mind that Russia is closer to and present in our region. I mean that peacekeeping implies operative response.

Russia is present in the region, Russia knows the region, I can even talk about language-related communication bottlenecks assuming that with peacekeepers coming from other countries there would be communication-related problems, problems arising from the nuances of knowing the region and mentality. We do believe that Russian peacekeepers will be the most effective in this regard.

Question: Azerbaijan suggests deploying Turkish peacekeepers.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – I have already said that Turkey is a country that brings terrorists and mercenaries into the region; it is difficult to conceive that it can promote any peaceful or peacekeeping process in the region.

Question: How do you explain the shelling of Ganja and other cities, as well as the use of cluster bombs against peaceful settlements in Azerbaijan?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – First of all, I wish to highlight the fact that when there is any minor explosion in an Azerbaijani town, the Government of Azerbaijan takes the locally accredited ambassadors and journalists to the scene and shows them the aftermath. But no diplomatic representative has ever been to Stepanakert, Martakert, Martuni, or Askeran. Note that I am talking about the cities and not about villages in Karabakh.

International journalists had a hard time visiting there, but today those cities are actually half-ruined. As for the Azerbaijani cities, I would like to state that first of all the continued shelling and bombing of cities in Nagorno-Karabakh has not received any international response. In other words, no one even tried to stop it, while the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, having legitimate military targets in some settlements or neighborhoods, launched retaliatory strikes.

Question: What would you say about the civilians killed in Azerbaijan, the cluster bombs used over there as evidenced by the human rights watch in Barda?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – Let us see whether those killed in Stepanakert were civilians or not. In other words, we just need an explanation as to why civilians are perishing in general. If you were satisfied with what I said about civilians being killed in Stepanakert, Martakert, Martuni, then the same can be said in answering your question, as it does not matter at all where civilians are being killed. If the explanation regarding Stepanakert satisfies you, then it should suffice to have a formula for civilian casualties suffered in any city around the world. Please note that I am not satisfied with such interpretation.

Question: But … it was immediately announced on both sides that civilians were being killed.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – I have no objections to that? Nobody argues with that, at least in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. But let us look at the statistics; let us look at the chronology.

Question: Last time when you met with Mr. Aliyev was in Munich during the Security Conference in February. What are your conditions for holding substantive talks with Azerbaijan?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – It is normal to talk about negotiations during the war, but it is not realistic. In fact, the terms of the talks were discussed and agreed upon in the October 10 statement adopted in Moscow, which was later reaffirmed.

The Moscow statement was adopted through the mediation of the Russian President. Then, with the mediation of the presidents of France and the United States, it was reaffirmed, and in fact, mutually agreed.

I mean, if there are agreed points, what is the point of setting conditions for each other, because in the end it was accepted jointly? In other words, there is no need to set other conditions. The conditions are set therein and we consider those conditions acceptable.

Question: Do you think that the OSCE Minsk group is the right format to find a solution?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – Yes, of course. We think that this is the only format where this issue can be discussed and decided. This does not mean at all that the international community should not support the Minsk Group co-chairs’ efforts. The international community should support the Minsk Group, which is currently the only internationally accepted framework.

Question: Do you wish to have more involvement on the part of the European Union? For instance, bringing in peacekeepers from the EU?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – I have already answered the question about peacekeepers, because we must also take into account the positions of other countries in the region. We need to make sure that peacekeepers actually bring stability to the region, instead of instability and upheavals.

I think Russian peacekeepers are the most suitable and the right players in this process. As for the European Union, I have repeatedly noticed in my interviews that the European Union, yes, can support the process by clearly stating who initiated the war; who brought mercenaries into the region.

By the way, we already have two mercenaries captured by the Karabakh Defense Army; they comprehensively described the foregoing developments in their testimonies. This is a very important detail.

For example, one of the mercenaries has a fourth-grade education, the other mercenary is not literate at all; that is, he can neither read nor write. These people were brought in from Syrian territories under Turkish control. This fact alone points to breaches of educational censorship, since people who do not even know the alphabet have been fed up with unholy values, inspired that there are enemies living here…

At the same time, we all want to make it clear that Turkey has recruited these people in the regions under its control in Syria, moved them to Turkey and then to Azerbaijan, after which it transported them to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone for a monthly pay of 2,000 U.S. dollars. There is a USD 100 reward set for those who would behead the “unfaithful.”

Do you not see any resemblance to other events taking place elsewhere? This is why I believe that World War III is on its way in the form of hybrid warfare that is spreading in all directions. This war is equally directed against Christians, against Muslims, against Jews.

I want to explain why I feel that it is directed against Muslims as well, firstly because the wrong image of Muslims is being shaped all over the world. Secondly, illiterate and, let me say, narrow-minded people are being used for specific political objectives, and we just know who does it.

We see the same phenomenon in Nagorno-Karabakh, we see the manifestation of the same phenomenon in Vienna, Canada, France, and we see it in Russia with slightly different manifestations. Over the past one month, we have seen several reports of terrorist groups operating in the North Caucasus that have been effectively destroyed by Russia’s law enforcement agencies.

By the way, this proves that this war is equally directed against the Muslims as we see quite a valuable reaction coming from Arab countries, we can see a valuable reaction coming from the Islamic Republic of Iran, because the presence of such individuals in our region is considered as a threat to national security by the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as by many Arab countries.

Question: How do you see Iran’s role in helping to end this war?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – You know that Iran is our neighbor and is naturally worried about the regional developments. I noticed above that our position is that the OSCE Minsk Group is the format in which the Karabakh issue should be discussed, but this does not mean that the international community should not support the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

Question: And my last question: your government promised democratic reforms and a fight against corruption. Do you think it is still possible?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – There is increasingly greater demand for reforms and anticorruption efforts. You may wonder whether I am satisfied with the results we have achieved in the fight against corruption? No, I am not satisfied, but I know why we have not been effective enough, because, in fact, the systems and mechanisms that have been entrenched in the corrupt reality for more than 20 years were conceived to safeguard corruption.

We have witnessed during all this time that the structures that exist prevent us from fighting corruption effectively and achieve a satisfactory level of return of embezzled funds. But all the same, we decided that we should not deviate from the law, we would go the way of improving institutions, legislation, which will obviously prolong the process.

I think the fight against corruption has taken shape and matured in the Armenian society, since people see that many issues have not been addressed for years due to corruption.

Armenia has no alternative, yes we must fight corruption, we must build democracy, but today the number one issue on our agenda is the ongoing aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, which of course has a national security component, but as I said there is also an international security component, because Russia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Arab countries, the European Union and the United States see a security threat in it.

The aforementioned countries have many differences in their mutual relations, but at least in the current situation, the involvement of Turkey-backed mercenaries and terrorists is equally deplored by everyone. This is a matter of international security. Of course, we are doing everything possible to ensure that democracy is not impaired, but I do not think martial law is the best environment for democracy. Therefore, we must do everything to get out of the state of martial law as soon as possible and return to normal life. Unfortunately, it does not depend solely on our efforts, but at least we will do our best for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://en.armradio.am/2020/11/07/world-war-iii-is-on-its-way-in-the-form-of-hybrid-warfare-armenian-pm/

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Public Radio of Armenia

Nov 7 2020

Putin, Erdogan discuss Nagorno Karabakh

During a telephone conversation with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan Russian President President Vladimir Putin informed about his telephone contacts with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia aimed at finding options for a settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the Kremlin press service, the sides “confirmed their mutual readiness to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict.”

“The situation in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was thoroughly discussed. The President of Russia informed his Turkish colleague about a series of telephone contacts with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia. These contacts were aimed at finding options for an early cessation of hostilities and reaching a political and diplomatic settlement. Mutual readiness to cooperate with a view of achieving a peaceful solution to the conflict,” the Kremlin said.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2020/11/08/putin-erdogan-discuss-nagorno-karabakh/

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Public Radio of Armenia

Nov 7 2020

“Second Armenian genocide”: Canadian Senator calls for recognition of Artsakh

Canadian senator Leo Housakos is calling for the government to condemn Turkey and Azerbaijan as Armenians face ethnic cleansing in Artsakh.

On Thursday, Conservative Senator Leo Housakos introduced a motion calling for the government to recognize Artsakh and condemn Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression in the conflict.

“As we observe Veterans Week. leading up to Remembrance Day, we are reminded of all the times Canada and Canadians have taken a side against the type of unprovoked and unwarranted aggression we are seeing in [Artsakh],” Housakos told True North.

“Unfortunately, the first Armenian genocide wasn’t recognized soon enough. Had world leaders intervened sooner, it might have been avoided. We always say, ‘Never again,’ and yet here we are, again.”

Housakos says that recent actions taken against Armenians in Artsakh may result in a “Second Armenian Genocide” and Canada needs to recognize what’s happening immediately.

Canada has suspended trading of military technology with Turkey over concerns that it is being used in the conflict.

Housakos says that along with condemnation, Canada needs to recognize Artsakh’s independence and deny Turkey Canadian military technology in the future.

“The Trudeau government should call it out for what it is, in plain language. They should fully recognize Artsakh’s independence and its inalienable right to self determination,” he said.

“And if we don’t want any more blood on our Canadian hands, Justin Trudeau must stop kowtowing to [Turkish] President Erdogan, and ensure that he won’t grant any further requests for exemptions to our ban of Canadian military exports that are being used to kill innocent Armenians.”

https://en.armradio.am/2020/11/08/second-armenian-genocide-canadian-senator-calls-for-recognition-of-artsakh/

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EurasiaNet.org

Nov 7 2020

Photo essay | Life underground in Karabakh Most civilians have fled. But some have stayed to support men at the front, others to fight for their homes.Jonathan Alpeyrie Nov 7, 2020

With Azerbaijani forces closing in, over half the population of Nagorno-Karabakh has fled their homes. But in the basements of Stepanakert and other towns, a few remain. They are mostly older men and women.

Some have stayed to support men at the front, others to fight for their homes.

“My son is at the front lines. Sometimes he comes to see me for two or three days, then he returns to the front,” explains Lyudmila Yedigaryan, 59, in her cellar in Shusha. “We are very scared. They [the Azerbaijanis] are shelling all the time. Sometimes I run to my apartment to get some food, but because I live on the fifth floor, it is even scarier as it takes time for me to go up the stairs."

Hundreds, if not thousands, of people like Yedigaryan have turned gloomy cellars beneath Soviet-era concrete apartment blocks into makeshift homes, adding heating, kitchens, bedrooms and anything necessary to weather a long siege.

Yedigaryan says she will stay as long as her son is at the front. She hopes Russia will intervene to put a stop to the fighting, which has also killed a dozens of civilians far from the front lines on the Azerbaijani side.

Alyona Shahramanyan (left). Her father, uncle and husband are all on the front lines. "I speak with them as often as possible.”

"We are all afraid to return home even to cook or take a shower,” she says, adding that she also hopes Russia will stop the war. "What is the point to continue such a war when so many are dying?”

“I saved my neighbors’ kid from the shelling by rushing him into the cellar. The priest and my neighbor blessed me so one day I can have children on my own."

Stepanakert

Lusine Saroyan is from the village of Harutyunagomer near the Martuni front. Heavily armed, she and her family have stayed behind to defend their home from Azerbaijani troops. Her son is at the front.

An 89-year-old woman shelters in a basement in central Stepanakert as Azerbaijani forces shell the town.

Stepanakert. These two women have sheltered in their cellar since the beginning of the war.

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Stepanakert during a lull in the fighting.

“The boys need me.” This woman, who declined to give her name, volunteers at the Martuni front. She has two kids at home in Yerevan and lies to them so they won’t worry. "I try to help as much as possible on the front lines, cooking, nursing the injured boys. Since I have a military education, I am able to help at the front."

Martuni, after shelling. A man walks by his home.

This man in Martuni refuses to leave his home, even though it has come under constant bombardment.

The main Stepanakert cemetery. A man buries his younger brother, who was killed in fighting the previous day.

Stepanakert. About 30 people have been living in the basement of the Holy Mother of God cathedral since the shelling began.

Shusha. Four men have taken shelter underneath their apartment as Azerbaijani forces shell the town daily.

 

Nora, from Hadrut, in the basement of Stepanakert’s Holy Mother of God cathedral. Her entire family lives and works in Russia, so she has been alone since the war started. "It was very hard to leave my home even though there was heavy fighting, but eventually I had to. I left everything behind. I had nothing when I came to the church here in Stepanakert."

 

Jonathan Alpeyrie is a conflict photographer from New York.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://eurasianet.org/photo-essay-life-underground-in-karabakh

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The National Interest

Nov 7 2020

Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis: It’s Time to Open a U.S. Consulate in Stepanakert

For the sake of peace, it is time to open a Stepanakert consulate now.

by Michael Rubin

Stepanakert is the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountain region historically populated by Armenians which is now under a prolonged assault by Azeri forces, Syrian mercenaries transported into the theater by Turkey, and Turkish drones. While most of the fighting has been on the edge of the territory, Stepanakert has also come under fire. Turkish F-16s have reportedly attacked the city’s maternity hospital, and journalists reported heavy shelling on Thursday.

It may seem counterintuitive to send American diplomats to a city under siege, but opening a consulate in Stepanakert would quiet conflict and perhaps promote peace.

The case for an American consulate in Nagorno-Karabakh—or Artsakh as locals call it—is multifold. While Armenia supports Artsakh’s nominal independence and Azerbaijan argues that it should control Nagorno-Karabakh in its entirety based on Soviet-era scrambling of borders, there is little dispute that the region has been its own entity for centuries, a notion reinforced by its rugged topography.

While Kosovo provides a precedent for the region’s independence, opening a diplomatic office or establishing a consulate would both not only help the United States monitor events, but might also dissuade Azeri, Turkish, and Arab mercenary forces who would target civilians in the region.

There is precedent to recognize the importance of even a passive presence. Consider, for example, the 2011 Pearl Monument uprising and its aftermath in Bahrain. Clashes occurred frequently for a few years following and then sporadically for several more between Shi’ite protestors and largely Sunni security forces. At no point did the protestors target Americans, despite the presence of thousands of servicemen and dozens of diplomats on the island, many living in compounds adjacent to Shi’ite villages which were hotbeds of dissent. When the State Department nevertheless relocated diplomats to the capital Manama, Bahrainis were furious: The absence of Americans outside the capital city would remove a deterrent to greater violence by the government against protestors. Diplomats make the best witnesses.

Indeed, this is something that Armenians know well. It was Henry Morgenthau Sr., the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, who provided some of the most compelling contemporary accounts of the genocide against Armenians perpetrated by Ottoman Turks (and Kurds). While his efforts to end U.S. neutrality and get the Woodrow Wilson administration to speak out against the genocide failed, Morgenthau’s writing and advocacy ensured that Turkey could not sweep the ethnic cleansing of the Armenians under the rug.

Of course, in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh, the State Department would have to resolve technicalities. The fact that both Armenians and Azerbaijan claim the territory on which Stepanakert sits would complicate any decision to open an office or consulate. After all, consulates typically answer to embassies in a country’s capital. The United States continues to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as Azeri territory even though Azerbaijan has not controlled it since Soviet days (and even then, it was an autonomous oblast). To attach the consulate to the U.S. Embassy in Baku, therefore, would be unrealistic. Simultaneously, the State Department would hesitate to link a Stepanakert consulate to the U.S. embassy in Yerevan in order to avoid implying U.S. recognition of Armenian claims in order to prevent undermining the Minsk Group process. Again, however, there is precedent: For decades, while the United States withheld recognition of Israeli claims to Jerusalem, the State Department considered the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem as distinct and unattached to any country. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might categorize a U.S. consulate in Stepanakert the same way in order to bypass the objections of both Armenia or Azerbaijan.

Diplomats often complain that the U.S. State Department is under-resourced and has no budget to expand. That might be true but, at the same time, the State Department is also guilty of supporting outdated posts that contribute little to U.S. diplomacy. Consider, for example: does the United States really needs to maintain consulates in Winnipeg, Quebec City, or Halifax? Likewise, beyond the U.S. embassy in Paris, the State Department operates six additional consulates in France. Is the U.S. consulate in Rennes really that important to U.S. interests? National interests and diplomat focus shifts, and the State Department should be nimble enough to shift with it.

If diplomacy is going to be the strategy of first resort, the State Department must be willing to be on the front lines. Critics who might say the United States would be walking into a second Benghazi are wrong. Benghazi was a tragedy, and perhaps an avoidable one at that, but it should not be cause for diplomatic withdrawal. There can be no influence without presence. Nor would Stepanakert be analogous to Benghazi for an even more basic reason: U.S. allies Turkey and Azerbaijan threaten the former, while terror groups targeted to the latter. The Secretary of State should simply make clear to his counterparts in Turkey and Azerbaijan that their countries would be held accountable for any attack that endangered or damaged an American mission in Stepanakert. It is one thing for dictators like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and İlham Aliyev to attack Nagorno-Karabakh when they believe they will suffer no consequences; it is another if they risk their diplomatic relationship with the United States over an errant missile or mortar. For the sake of peace, it is time to open a Stepanakert consulate now.

Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a frequent author for the National Interest.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/nagorno-karabakh-crisis-it%E2%80%99s-time-open-us-consulate-stepanakert-172224?fbclid=IwAR0B1Pxq0G_y11UAjxJtb97Zg7QgLXmmW5NJw_WFtdqv0uDgJqLKir_4Ino