cease-fire violations by azeris

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Armenpress.am

‘Nobody stood next to first Christian nation because all we have is history and culture’ – Cher

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12:35, 12 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. World famous American pop-singer of Armenian origin Cher (Cherilyn Sarkisian) has made a post on Twitter on Armenia, stating that “nobody stood next to the first Christian nation because all we have is history and culture”.

“Dark day for Christianity. Nobody stood next to the first Christian nation because all we have is history and culture and that’s not something we can export…Thanks humanity”, Cher said.

“Armenia Is a Small Country With No Natural Resources To Steal. Turkey tried to destroy her..Killed 2million of her Ppl. Now Azerbaijan Is Trying 2 Destroy Her. They Have”Black Gold”Men KILL 4,Or Watch OTHERS Do the Killing. Russia Wants Her Land. Bless & Protect You, Home Of My Father”, Cher added.

Soloist of System Of A Down Serj Tankian shared the post of Cher, stating: “A sentiment all Armenians around the world feel in our bones right now. Thanks Cher”.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1037609.html?fbclid=IwAR2eCiCI2q-LiH6usjmT27V571cNSOijrp_nUasTPUOs5b9pCIOaZsH2N8c

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Armenpress.am

Babayan calls Azerbaijani attack attempt at Line of Contact a provocative action also against Russia

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12:42, 12 December, 2020

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Advisor to the president of Artsakh Davit Babayan calls the Azerbaijani attack attempt, launched on December 11 in the southern direction of the Defense Army, a provocative action also against Russia.

“There has been a provocative attempt to move forward, which was prevented. Fortunately, we do not have losses. These actions are directed both against Artsakh and Russia. The possibility of such provocative actions is not ruled out in the future as well, but I think that the response will always be tough, including also by the peacekeepers. We need to clarify the circumstances of the incident”, he told Armenpress.

On December 11, at around 20:40, the Azerbaijani side launched an attack attempt in the direction of one of the military positions located in the southern direction of the Defense Army. Three reservists have received gunshot wounds of various degrees as a result of exchange of fire. Their lives are not under danger. Investigation is underway to clarify the details of the incident”, the Artsakh Defense Army said.

Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 

 

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Armenpress.am

Baku wins intelligence war thanks to Israeli contracts

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16:47, 12 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Intelligence Online has published an article about the recent war in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), stating that Azerbaijan has won the intelligence war thanks to the Israeli contracts.

The article says that while the world’s focus was on the support of Turkey and Syrian mercenaries to Azerbaijan, as well as the Israeli-made UAVs, Israel was also providing intelligence data to Baku.

Intelligence Online reports that Israeli companies have provided Azerbaijan with concrete data about the geographical terrain of Nagorno Karabakh which made it easier for the UAVs of the Azerbaijani army to move in the aforementioned areas. It says it is thanks to these data that the UAVs managed to accurately hit the targets and cause huge losses to the Armenian side.

The article also states that Israel managed to test its equipment in areas near Iran, which, according to the author of the article, is of great importance for it.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1037629.html?fbclid=IwAR39QSDItgvM2ZxFqQqr0nd0sN5NypMUy0nxSfl-COCYMZAca9vR37hUS-A

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Public Radio of Armenia

Dec 12 2020

Russian peacekeepers arrive in villages attacked by Azerbaijan

Russian peacekeepers have аrrived in the villages of Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher in Hadrut region of Nagorno Karabakh, which were attacked by the Azerbaijani armed forces.

Head of the district administration Vahan Savadyan confirmed the information to Sputnik Armenia.

“The fire should have stopped. Now the investigation is under way to find out who violated the ceasefire,” Savadyan said.

He said there is no information under whose control the villages are at the moment, because there is no contact with the Armenian military in these villages, he added.

The two villages of the Hadrut region, Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd had remained under the control of the Armenian side.

The villages were attacked by the Azerbaijani forces earlier today.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2020/12/12/russian-peacekeepers-arrive-in-villages-attacked-by-azerbaijan/

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Aysor, Armenia

Dec 12 2020

Armenian side many times applied to Russian peacekeepers to implement their function in Old Tagher-Khtsaber sector - Armenia's PM spokesperson

Read Aysor.am inTelegram

The Armenian side has many times both in a written form and orally applied to the Russian peacekeepers for them to implement their function in Old Tagher-Khtsaber sector and a relevant arrangement has been reached over it on the highest level.

This was reported by Armenia’s PM spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan.

https://www.aysor.am/en/news/2020/12/12/armenia-russian-peacekeepers/1784106

[Yervant1]

RT - Russia Today

Dec 12 2020

New Nagorno-Karabakh war crime fears as Azeri soldier boasts to camera about killing Armenian civilian & mutilating corpse (VIDEO)

12 Dec, 2020 12:03

Disturbing footage has emerged online showing a man, said to be an Azeri soldier, claiming to have executed an Armenian civilian, as an international human rights organization issues a warning over war crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Friends, there’s an Armenian mug there,” the man says, pointing to a white car bearing Armenian license plates. “I killed him.” As the camera pans to show a corpse in the front seat, he adds, “we are cutting off their hands, so they don’t raise weapons. Let that be a lesson to them.” The footage and translation, which is unverified, was shared widely on the Telegram messaging service.

WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT:

The incident comes just days after a shocking video purporting to show Azerbaijani soldiers beheading an elderly man in Nagorno-Karabakh went viral, sparking outrage among social media users.

Amnesty International, a human rights NGO, announced on Thursday that it had authenticated 22 videos arising from the conflict, that show executions, abuse of prisoners and desecration of the bodies of those who have died.

“The depravity and lack of humanity captured in these videos shows the deliberate intention to cause ultimate harm and humiliation to victims, in clear violation of international humanitarian law,” said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s head of research in Central Asia.

The warning came as thousands of Azerbaijani troops staged a victory parade in the capital. They were joined by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who, in a fiery speech, said that Armenians should not seek to overturn the result of the ceasefire settlement that put swathes of land in Nagorno-Karabakh under the control of Baku. “If the Armenian people can learn from the Karabakh war, a new era will begin in the region,” he added.

Earlier this week, Armenian protesters opposed to the deal clashed with riot police in Yerevan, as they tried to push their way into the office of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a cabinet meeting.

 

https://www.rt.com/russia/509479-azerbaijani-soldier-killing-armenian-civilian/

[Yervant1]

Panorama, Armenia

Dec 12 2020

Russian peacekeepers should react to Azerbaijani attacks on Artsakh villages, spokesperson to Pashinyan says

"The attack of the Azerbaijani forces in Hin Taghlar-Khtsaberd direction should receive reaction from Russian peacekeepers in the first place," Spokesperson to PM Pashinyan Mane Gevorgyan wrote on Facebook.

Gevorgyan's comments came following the news on resumed attacks of the Azerbaijani forces on His Taghlar and Khtsaberd villages of Artsakh's Hadrut region.

"The commanders of the peacekeeping contingent have been well informed about the developments since morning," Georgian added.

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2020/12/12/Russian-peacekeepers-Azerbaijan-attacks-Mane-Gevorgyan/2419111

[Yervant1]

Warning graphic pictures!

 

Not a one word of condemnation from the so called civilized nations of the world. May you all choke on azeri oi!

The Blunt Post

Dec 13 2020

Azerbaijan Continues to Behead Armenian Civilians & Captured Soldiers Azerbaijanis & Turkish Troops Behead Armenians Who Are Still Alive, Mutilate Their Bodies, Drag Civilians From Their Homes And Execute Them On The Sidewalk. Then, They Post The Videos On Anonymous Social Media Accounts

(Warning: Links to Graphic & Disturbing Videos)

By Vic Gerami

Azerbaijani troops execute Armenian civilians

A young man is beheaded alive while he struggles to getaway. Azerbaijani soldiers laugh, cheer, and celebrate the slaughter as one of them uses an ordinary knife to cut his throat.

An elderly Armenian man begs for his life, but an Azerbaijani soldier holds him down and cuts his throat.

Azerbaijani soldier executes an Armenian civilian.

Azerbaijani soldiers drag Armenian civilians out of their homes to the sidewalk and then execute them.

Azerbaijani soldiers mutilate dead Armenian soldiers, cutting off their body parts.

Azerbaijani soldiers burn the body of an Armenian.

Azerbaijani troops execute Armenian volunteers.

Several Azerbaijani soldiers took pictures of themselves cutting Armenians’ heads off and posing with them

Azerbaijan and Turkey’s genocidal attack and ethnic cleansing of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Armenians continues while the rest of the world watches silently. The United Nations, European Union, Council of Europe, Amnesty International, UNESCO, NATO, European Parliament, Human Rights Watch, US State Department, and the OSCE Minsk Group, to varying degrees, have been silenced by Azerbaijan’s oil and Erdogan’s bullying.

Leading up to the attack on September 27, Azerbaijan ramped up its public relations campaign, employing not one but six of K Street’s heavy-hitting firms, including the Livingston Group, Stellar Jay Communications, BGR, the Podesta Group, and DLA Piper. Last year the country spent $1.3 million on lobbying.

The war launched by Azerbaijan and Turkey against the Armenian Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) in the South Caucasus on September 27 was halted through an agreement, which was brokered by Russia and imposed on Armenia. Based on the circulating agreement, Armenians relinquished most of their homeland in Artsakh to Azerbaijan by December 1, forcing any Armenians living in those regions to depart.

During their indiscriminate shelling of Artsakh, the aggressors – Azerbaijan, and Turkey, accompanied by ISIS and Syrian jihadist forces – committed many war crimes against Armenians. They murdered civilians and injured journalists. They burned villages, forests, and churches. They tortured and beheaded Armenians, and executed prisoners.

BBC reported on October 24: “One video posted on a messaging app shows what appears to be two Armenians in military uniforms being captured by troops from Azerbaijan. A second video seemingly shows the same Armenians being shot with their hands behind their backs. Armenian authorities have identified the men as Benik Hakobyan, 73, and 25-year-old Yuri Adamyan.”

Azerbaijani soldier cutting off Armenian soldier’s head

Azerbaijani forces also used cluster munitions and white phosphorus against Artsakh. “Azerbaijan has repeatedly used widely banned cluster munitions in residential areas in Nagorno-Karabakh,” according to an October 23 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). “Cluster munitions have been banned because of their widespread indiscriminate effect and long-lasting danger to civilians,” it added.

The false, obsessive belief that Artsakh belongs to Azerbaijan has resulted in an ethnic cleansing against indigenous Armenians from their lands.

The area called Artsakh, originally one of the ancient provinces of Armenia, has preserved a majority Armenian population throughout the centuries. Despite this, Artsakh was annexed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to the New Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan in the early 1920s. Armenian peaceful requests for self-determination were violently punished by Azerbaijan.

Under Azeri control, Armenians were subject to severe persecution such as pogroms in Sumgait and Baku from 1988 to 1990. The Soviet Union collapsed the following year, and Azerbaijan, Armenia and Artsakh declared independence. Azerbaijan, however, rejected Artsakh’s independence claim and chose to launch a war in 1992, which lasted two years and cost the lives of approximately 30,000 people.

26 years later, Armenians in Artsakh are once again assaulted by Azerbaijan. This time, arms supplies and diplomatic support from Turkey helped give Azerbaijan the upper hand in the conflict. Several news agencies, governments and the United Nations have also reported that Turkey sent jihadist terrorists from Syria to support Azerbaijan in its fight against the

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights)also reported on November 11:

“The UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries said there were widespread reports that the Government of Azerbaijan, with Turkey’s assistance, relied on Syrian fighters to shore-up and sustain its military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, including on the frontline. The fighters appeared to be motivated primarily by private gain, given the dire economic situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, the UN experts said. In case of death, their relatives were reportedly promised financial compensation and Turkish nationality.

“‘The way in which these individuals were recruited, transported and used in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone appeared consistent with the definition of a mercenary, as set out by relevant international legal instruments, including the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, to which Azerbaijan is a party,’ said Chris Kwaja, who chairs the Working Group.

Two Azerbaijani soldiers posing with the head of Armenian soldiers: Top – Officer and Brigade Commander Aslanov (Asalav?) Risad Tarel Below – Private Tagiyev Parviz Hafiz

“‘Moreover, reports indicate that Turkey engaged in large-scale recruitment and transfer of Syrian men to Azerbaijan through armed factions, some of which are affiliated with the Syrian National Army. The alleged role of Turkey is all the more concerning given the similar allegations addressed earlier this year by the Working Group in relation its role in recruiting, deploying and financing such fighters to take part in the conflict in Libya,’ Kwaja added.”

The UN report was released two days after the treaty was signed, but Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was always transparent about his support for the war against Artsakh. “We support Azerbaijan until victory,” Erdogan said on October 6. “I tell my Azerbaijani brothers: May your ghazwa be blessed.”

Ghazwa in Islam refers to a battle or raid against non-Muslims for the expansion of Muslim territory and/or conversion of non-Muslims to Islam.

In another speech on November 1, Erdogan said, “We are in Syria, Libya, Azerbaijan. We have displayed the same dignified attitude from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, from Syria to Libya, from Cyprus to Karabakh.”

Prior to the war, Artsakh’s population was around 150,000. Turkish and Azeri aggression against the region has caused massive destruction on civilian infrastructure including homes and hospitals and the displacement of about 90,000 Armenians. On October 23, a group of genocide scholars issued a statement “on the imminent genocidal threat deriving from Azerbaijan and Turkey against Artsakh.”

Completely abandoned by the international community and faced with an existential threat, Armenia had to sign an agreement which allowed Azerbaijan to take over much of Artsakh. With 60% of Artsakh destroyed and the remainder of land to be surrounded by hostile Azeri forces, many indigenous Armenians who have lived in Artsakh for generations see no choice other than to flee their homeland.

Azerbaijan bombed Shushi’s Armenian Ghazanchetsots Cathedral 3 times

Meanwhile, during the war, hundreds of Turks and Azeris took to the streets in the French city of Lyon, looking for Armenians. They marched with Turkish flags, chanting Allahuakbar (Allah is the greatest), and “Where are you Armenians? Where are you? We are here… sons of bitches.”

Jonathan Lacôte, French ambassador to Armenia, announced that French police were protecting Armenian community centers in France from Turkish and Azeri attacks and vandalism.

In another move to counter Turkish aggression, the French Interior Ministry banned a Turkish ultra-nationalist group known as the Grey Wolves after a memorial to victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide was defaced.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the decision, saying that “there is no such a movement called ‘Grey Wolves’. Attempts to resort to imaginary decisions presuming the existence of such a movement or formation based on some individuals and their actions, reflects the latest contradictory psychology that this country lives in.”

The Grey Wolf movement, however, does exist. The Grey Wolves (Turkish: Bozkurtlar), officially known as Idealist Hearths (Turkish: Ülkü Ocakları) is a Turkish far-right, racist organization and movement affiliated with Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The movement has been involved in many acts of violence against civilians as well as political and religious figures. This includes the Alevi massacre in the city of Maras in southeast Turkey in 1978 and the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981.

Attacks against Armenians in the South Caucasus and Europe demonstrate that this war is not only about land. It is about pan-Turkic, expansionist aspirations of Turkey and Azerbaijan as well as their unrelenting, genocidal hatred against Armenians.

As was the case during the 1915 Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turkey, the international community has once again abandoned Armenians, who are an indigenous and peaceful people. If new and effective steps are not taken by the civilized world immediately, neo-Ottomanism, pan-Turkism and jihad will win through the agreement imposed on Armenia.

Meanwhile, some opposition to the agreement has begun emerging in Europe. On November 11, France 24 reported that the French presidency said it was studying the parameters of the Russian-brokered ceasefire, adding that a long-term deal should also “preserve Armenia’s interests.” Macron’s office quoted him as saying that efforts should be made “without delay” to try to come up with a “lasting political solution to the conflict that allows for the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to remain in good conditions and the return of tens of thousands of people who have fled their homes.”

To guarantee the return of Armenians to their ancient homeland and to prevent the complete erasure of the remaining Armenian cultural heritage by totalitarian Azerbaijan, Western governments must officially recognize Artsakh. The West must let dictators know that their war crimes and genocidal ambitions will not go unpunished.

Please read this FAQ article to learn more about Artsakh and its rich Armenian history.

https://thebluntpost.com/azerbaijanis-behead-armenian-civilians-who-are-still-alive-mutilate-rape-burn-their-bodies/?fbclid=IwAR3odAMIfozAcHVExgrUlppRYCKKHBri52kAVDNgTSKpFb7sU6s5ujK6--g

 

[MosJan]

[MosJan]

[MosJan]

[MosJan]

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The National Interest

Dec 15 2020

In Caucasus War, Russia Succeeded to Demonize Democracy

The United States essentially forfeited its influence over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and allowed Russia’s Vladimir Putin to wield power in the region.

by Michael Rubin

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan joined his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on a podium in Baku on Dec. 10 to watch a parade celebrating “Victory in the Patriotic War.” The procession marked Aliyev’s latest celebration as he cements his legacy as the man who returned territories Azerbaijan lost to Armenia in the 1988–1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Aliyev is a short-term thinker. He does not yet understand the tremendous price of his victory: Azerbaijan’s sovereignty. Russia and Turkey have stationed forces inside Azerbaijani territory. Turkey also reportedly controls several thousand mercenaries transported into Azerbaijan from Syria, Libya, and other Arab countries. None of these forces are under Aliyev’s control and both Moscow and Ankara can easily leverage them against Aliyev and his family should he stray too far from Erdoğan or Russian president Vladimir Putin’s dictates.

Aliyev may focus on Nagorno-Karabakh but for Putin, the game is much bigger and extends across the Caucasus, if not beyond. It involves not territory, but rather than nature of government. Alas, in the latest Caucasus war, Putin won again as he signals to the region that Russian authoritarianism offers security while liberal democracy brings only chaos and territorial loss.

Neither the Trump administration nor the Obama administration before it particularly cared about the Caucasus. Their strategic neglect was unfortunate, not only because of the region’s strategic value but also because of its cultural weight. In 301 AD, the Kingdom of Armenia declared Christianity to be its official religion and so became the oldest Christian country on earth. More importantly, the peoples of the South Caucasus have both early and repeatedly embraced democracy, a cultural attitude that Putin resents. Iranian democrats operating largely from Tabriz, the capital of Iranian Azerbaijan, modeled their 1905 Constitutional Revolution after the successful Russian effort to subordinate the Tsar to a legislative body earlier that year. In subsequent years, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia each achieved independence against the backdrop of the Russian Empire’s dissolution, before subsequently losing it to Soviet aggression.

Each of the three independent countries in the Caucasus have now had experiences with popular revolution and democracy. When Azerbaijan seceded from the Soviet Union, Ayaz Mutallibov, the first secretary of the regional communist party, simply took over as president but he was ousted following a series of disastrous military and economic events. On June 7, 1992, Azeris went to the polls in their first democratic election. Abulfaz Elchibey won 60 percent of the vote in a field of five, and formerly assumed power nine days later as Azerbaijan’s first non-communist leader. Elchibey sought to pivot Azerbaijan’s foreign policy away from Russia, but his efforts at setting Azerbaijan down a democratic path floundered in the face of both Russian opposition and a disastrous military campaign in Nagorno-Karabakh. Elchibey fell within a year, fleeing into exile as former KGB operative and communist functionary Heydar Aliyev assumed power, consolidating a dictatorship and eventually handing power over to his son and current leader.

Georgia, too, followed a similar path. Former dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia led protests and demonstrations which, against the backdrop of the Soviet Union’s collapse, culminated in the restoration of Georgian independence. Gamsakhurdia did not last long, however. Opposition grew to his dictatorial tendencies. He sought to repress South Ossetian nationalism which he accused the Kremlin of encouraging. Ultimately, a Russian-backed coup unseated Gamsakhurdia after less than a year in office, and he died under mysterious circumstances in exile less than two years later. Former Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze became president. He understood the need to balance relations between Russia and the United States, although he encouraged NATO’s eastward expansion and sought to orient Georgia more in the Western camp. Ultimately, in 2003, after parliamentary elections which international observers deemed fraudulent, protestors in the so-called “Rose Revolution” forced Shevardnadze’s resignation. Mikheil Saakashvili, a leader of the revolution, dominated subsequent polls winning 96 percent in an election with more than 82 percent turnout. Saakashvili interpreted his landslide as a mandate to more firmly tie Georgia to the West. Putin despised Saakashvili and, in 2008, intervened directly in support of both Abkazian and South Ossetian secession efforts. The Russian occupation kneecapped Saakashvili’s ambitions and his popularity plummeted. In 2013, after losing a parliamentary election, Saakashvili fled Georgia and subsequently moved to Ukraine where he renounced his Georgian citizenship in order to avoid extradition on corruption and abuse-of-power charges. In the post-Saakashvili-era, Georgia returned to a more balanced foreign policy deferential to Kremlin sensitivities and red lines.

Armenia, perhaps culturally the closest country in the Caucasus to Russia, has followed the same pattern. Former journalist turned politician Nikol Pashinyan shot to power against the backdrop in 2018 of mass protests against attempts by Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia’s long-time prime minister, to extend his term. Pashinyan sought greater foreign policy neutrality. While he did nothing either to challenge Russia’s influence in Armenia or the presence of the Russian base in Gyumri, both his willingness to cultivate the West and his rise in a people power revolution were deeply offensive to Putin for whom such uprisings are a nightmare scenario.

Armenians may be disappointed that Russia did little to protect them against the Azerbaijani and Turkish onslaught in the most recent Nagorno-Karabakh War but, in hindsight, protecting Armenia—and especially the self-declared Artsakh Republic in Nagorno-Karabakh—was secondary to reinforcing a lesson the Kremlin had previously applied to Azerbaijan and Georgia: Democratic revolutions may bring short-term political freedom, but they also lead to territorial loss and an erosion of sovereignty.

In contrast, Putin has shown that dictatorships and counter-revolutionary regimes succeed where their democratic predecessors fail. Elchibey in Azerbaijan, Saakashvili in Georgia, and now Pashinyan in Armenia all assumed office amidst popular acclaim. All presided over significant territorial loss—Elchibey to Armenia, Saakashvili to Russian-backed forced, and Pashinyan to Azerbaijan. Both Elchibey and Saakashvili ended their political careers in exile and disgrace and, if opposition parties in Armenia have their way, Pashinyan may not be far behind.

Such Russian success need not have been foreordained. The United States essentially forfeited its influence long before the first shots were fired in the most recent conflict, and neither the White House nor the State Department has done anything to regain leverage. Too often it seems that U.S. officials fail to see the forest through the trees and recognize the long game that Putin is playing.

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

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/caucasus-war-russia-succeeded-demonize-democracy-174477?fbclid=IwAR0BJLlfIq9yp4wMuVRicsGozOcJQe0sHoBeZ85LgIhlcw-JQMlCbpKdmdo

[Yervant1]

The Conversation

Dec 16 2020

Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh fear their medieval churches will be destroyed

December 16, 2020 12.19am AEDT

Christina Maranci

Professor and Department Chair, Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Professor of Armenian Art and Architecture, Tufts University

A six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region in the South Caucasus, ended on Nov. 9 after Russia brokered a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Under the deal, several ethnically Armenian provinces in Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians call Artsakh, were surrendered to Azerbaijan in November and December.

This is the latest chapter in a conflict that dates back at least a century. In 1921, the Soviet Union declared Nagorno-Karabakh part of Azerbaijan despite its ethnic Armenian majority. Since that time, the territory has been the site of massive demonstrations, failed international agreements and a brutal war from 1992 to 1994.

The human tragedy has been devastating. In the 2020 fighting alone, over 5,000 soldiers died and more than 100,000 people were displaced. Though the war is over, the rich architectural heritage of the region is still at risk.

Heritage organizations worry that the numerous historic Armenian churches, monasteries and tombstones of the region may face damage or destruction now that they are out of Armenian hands.

Damage to historic churches

The war had already damaged many Armenian monuments. In the fall, Azerbaijani offensives shelled the ancient city of Tigranakert, founded in the first century B.C. by the Armenian king Tigranes the Great.

It also damaged the historic Holy Saviour “Ghazanchetsots” Cathedral in Shusha, one of the largest Armenian cathedrals in the world. Shusha, called Shushi by Armenians, is Karabakh’s cultural capital.

After Azerbaijani soldiers took control of the city, online images showed its 19th-century Armenian cathedral defaced with graffiti. Another 19th-century church nearby, known as the Kanach Zham and dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, also appears to be damaged.

The Armenian monuments of Nagorno-Karabakh form part of the broader architectural tradition of Armenian art and architecture which I study. For over 20 years, I have conducted research and fieldwork in historical regions of Armenia, including Nagorno-Karabakh.

Medieval heritage

Nagorno-Karabakh forms a remarkable chapter in Armenian art history because of its antiquity and its visual and religious distinctiveness.

The Monastery of Amaras, in the southeast, was founded in the fourth century, when Armenia became the first country to make Christianity its national religion.

It is the burial place of Saint Grigoris, grandson of Gregory the Illuminator, the patron saint and evangelizer of Armenia. It is also the site of the first school to use the Armenian script.

The walled complex houses a large basilica. Underneath it lies Grigoris’ fifth-century tomb – one of the oldest surviving Armenian Christian burial structures.

Recent archaeological excavations show that this tomb could be entered from the east – quite unusual in traditional church architecture. Scholars link the layout to the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the place both of the crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus.

Many other churches in Nagorno-Karabakh date later, from the 13th to 18th centuries, and incorporate carved cross-stones called khachkars into their walls. Khachkars often feature inscriptions written in Armenian that record the donor’s name and family members.

A cross-stone, or khachkar, is built into a church wall in the Armenian village of Sotk. Alexander Ryumin\TASS via Getty Images

In a church in Takyaghaya, the entrance is a beautiful patchwork of khachkars of various sizes and shapes. To the south, near Handaberd, a khachkar that likely dates to the 12th or 13th century is carved with a rare image of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ Child.

Meanwhile, the church of Tzitzernavank, in the west, is an extraordinary example of an intact early Christian basilica. It dates from the fifth or sixth century. An upper-level gallery above its sanctuary is an unusual design in church architecture. It is not clear why worshipers would be permitted to stand above the holiest area of the church.

Tzitzernavank also offers evidence of continued Armenian presence through the early modern period. An inscription on the church from before the 10th century asks Christ to “Remember the prayers of your servant, the undeserving Grigor, for his beloved brother Azat.” Another, from 1613, states that “By the will of God … the fortress wall was repaired by the hand of Prince Haikaz…”

Bearing the names of parents, children and other individuals, these inscriptions – and the monuments on which they appear – form a veritable history book of the region.

Rich past, but uncertain future

Nagorno-Karabakh is home to multiple architectural traditions. There are prehistoric caves and petroglyphs, or rock carvings, as well as medieval and modern Islamic tombs and mosques, and bridges, fortresses and palaces. They reflect the layered and diverse communities of the region.

But heritage organizations, museums, scholars, journalists and church leaders are most concerned about the fate of the vast number of Armenian Christian monuments which represent the indigenous Armenian populations – and which may suffer for precisely that reason.

[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]

Scholars worry the monuments could face the same fate as the Armenian sites located in the nearby Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, where soldiers demolished thousands of khachkars between 1997 and 2007.

I believe digital documentation of the Armenian monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh is crucial to record their condition in the immediate aftermath of war. If destroyed, they are gone forever, which scholars like me believe would be a tragic impoverishment of world heritage.

 

 

https://theconversation.com/armenians-displaced-from-nagorno-karabakh-fear-their-medieval-churches-will-be-destroyed-149141?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=bylinefacebookbutton&fbclid=IwAR2mHL1aYXtlIpwkMf8RdloxKRSGcDtdn33G8wdjHhy-PxXvaI5C-1-ZQ08

[Yervant1]

The Guardian, UK

Dec 15 2020

Two men beheaded in videos from Nagorno-Karabakh war identified

Exclusive: Ethnic Armenian men refused to leave their villages before Azerbaijani forces arrived, locals say

Andrew Roth Moscow correspondent

Tue 15 Dec 2020 05.00 GMT

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Two elderly men who were beheaded by Azerbaijani forces in videos widely shared on messaging apps have been identified, confirming two of the bloodiest atrocities of the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The ethnic Armenian men were non-combatants, people in their respective villages said. Both were beheaded by men in the uniforms of the Azerbaijani armed forces. The short, gruesome videos of the killings are among the worst of a torrent of footage portraying abuse, torture and murder that has continued to emerge more than a month after a Russian-brokered ceasefire came into force.

The villagers’ testimony in interviews with the Guardian corroborates identifications by a human rights ombudsman for the Armenian-backed local government and two prominent Armenian human rights lawyers preparing a criminal case relating to the murders.

The Guardian also confirmed one of the victim’s identities with a relative, and reviewed a passport application photograph that strongly resembles the other victim.

Human rights groups detail 'war crimes' in Nagorno-Karabakh

In videos posted online on 22 November and 3 December, men in uniforms consistent with those of the Azerbaijani military hold down and decapitate a man using a knife. One then places the severed head on a dead animal. “This is how we get revenge – by cutting off heads,” a voice says off camera.

Two residents of the village of Madatashen, in Nagorno-Karabakh, identified the victim as Genadi Petrosyan, 69, who had moved to the village in the late 1980s from the city of Sumgait, in Azerbaijan.

Gayane Petrosyan (no relation), the head of the local school, lived directly across from Petrosyan’s modest, two-room house. She said his father had helped install the village’s electrical system, and he had shown her pictures of a son who had moved to Russia with his ex-wife.

She said of one of the videos: “I could clearly see his face and I could recognise that it was him.” The Guardian has also seen a photograph of Petrosyan that closely resembles the victim in the video.

Genadi Petrosyan, who lived alone, resisted leaving the village as Azerbaijani forces closed in. When a neighbour tried to drive him away, he got out of the car and walked home.

Eduard Hayrapetyan, the village head, said he had known Petrosyan for more than three decades and considered him a close friend of his family’s. He received his last call from Petrosyan on the morning of 28 October, to say he had seen enemy forces in the village. Then, after weeks of silence, the video emerged.

“I feel great sorrow that I took him away from the village and then he came back and this happened,” Hayrapetyan said. “I just can’t find my place.”

Artak Beglaryan, a human rights ombudsman for the local Armenian-backed government, said Petrosyan had been identified by combing 35 missing persons reports for the region and then contacting acquaintances, who confirmed his identity.

He called for greater efforts by the international community to investigate war crimes from the conflict. “Western countries have kept silent and they haven’t taken practical steps,” he said. “They have the duties and levers to speak about this … we don’t see any results, we don’t see any process from them.”

Siranush Sahakyan, a human rights lawyer, also confirmed Petrosyan’s identity and said she and a colleague, Artak Zeynalyan, had prepared a criminal investigation into the murder.

“Emotionally, it is hard to watch the videos. From a professional perspective, it can be very useful evidence,” Sahakyan said, cautioning that they had to carefully vet videos to make sure they were not faked.

Amnesty International has called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to investigate videos of the decapitations and desecrations of corpses. The organisation has used digital verification techniques to authenticate the footage reviewed in this article, as well as footage of the murder of an Azerbaijani border guard who had his throat cut. Other videos show soldiers desecrating the bodies of enemy fighters.

While both sides have been implicated, online channels are increasingly dominated by videos of Armenian soldiers and civilians being abused by advancing Azerbaijani troops.

New revelations of torture and abuse mean that for many the violence continues even long after the war was halted. “Armenians and Azerbaijanis are watching those videos day in and day out, and every day there is a new video which is sending a new wave of assault on the public and public sensibilities,” said Tanya Lokshina, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, which prepared a painstaking report on abuses against Armenian prisoners of war, released early this month. “That trauma also results in increased levels of hatred. Even now when the active stage of the fighting is over.”

Some of the most gruesome and widely watched videos have also been some of the most difficult to confirm. A video posted on a Telegram channel on 7 December showed two soldiers in uniforms consistent with the Azerbaijani military pinning down an elderly man near a tree. Another soldier passes a knife to one of the attackers, who begins slicing at the victim’s neck. The victim’s head begins to separate from the neck before the video ends.

Three residents of the village of Azokh identified the victim in this video as Yuri Asryan, a reclusive 82-year-old who had refused to leave the village on 20 October as Azerbaijani forces approached.

“He didn’t communicate with others very much. He just refused to leave,” said Georgi Avesyan, the longtime head of the village until 2019 and one of the people who identified Asryan. He said it was possible Asryan did not fully understand what was happening.

Azerbaijani forces entered the village days later and it has remained under Baku’s control under the ceasefire agreement signed on 9 November.

There was no news of Asryan’s fate until a 29-second video appeared last week on social networks, including Telegram channels that traffic in gory footage from the conflict.

Araik Azumanyan, the current head of the village, said: “I received calls from many people from the village, and even people who had moved from the village to Armenia many years ago saying it looked like [Asryan] in the video.”

A third villager who recognised Asryan said: “I felt terrible after watching it, my blood pressure was high, I couldn’t compose myself for a week after seeing that.”

Beglaryan, the human rights ombudsman, and Sahakyan, the human rights lawyer, also confirmed Asryan’s identity. His closest relative, an elderly sister who occasionally visited him, knows that Asryan has died but has not seen the video. Asryan’s niece also confirmed to the Guardian that it was him in the video.

Azerbaijan’s general prosecutor last month publicly launched an investigation into war crimes by both Baku and Yerevan. On Monday it made its first arrests, detaining two Azerbaijani soldiers for defiling the bodies of dead Armenian troops and two for destroying graves. It has not publicly opened any criminal cases into beheadings.

There are hundreds more videos of abuses online. Sahakyan said she and a colleague were pursuing 75 cases of captive Armenian soldiers and civilians in the European court of human rights, including 35 that included video evidence. On Monday evening, the two government conducted a mass prisoner exchange, media in both countries reported.

In one video, a villager named Kamo Manasyan is kicked and beaten as blood streams from his right eye. “How many more of you are here,” his interrogator yells in heavily accented Russian, aiming a rifle at Manasyan’s head. “Shoot me if you want,” Manasyan replies. The man hits him with the rifle instead.

“It was hard to watch this video with this cruelty,” said Gagik, his nephew, in a video call. “I think they just want to show their success in this war and to humiliate Armenians, to show that they won.”

Manasyan’s sister, Nora, cannot bear to watch the video. “I want the prisoners of war to come back as soon as possible,” she said, crying. “I want peace.”

Asked for comment on allegations of human rights abuses during the war, a spokesman for the Council of Europe’s Commissioner on Human Rights said: “At this stage we can only say that the Commissioner has received videos and other material alleging human rights violations. Before expressing herself publicly, she wants to carry out a mission in order to assess the situation in first person. She is planning a mission to the region soon.”

* Gohar Martirosyan contributed reporting and translating from Yerevan, Armenia

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/15/two-men-beheaded-in-videos-from-nagorno-karabakh-war-identified?__twitter_impression=true&s=04&fbclid=IwAR04w1uKQJHyN-m9kFm9bPpa287ebkv6zyrbWkIX6qKlzPBwAX7t9SFVxsw

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Armenpress.am

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12:43, 16 December, 2020

GYUMRI, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The families of the servicemen who were besieged in Artsakh’s Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd villages and who are officially considered missing since the evening of December 15 are blocking the Gyumri-Yerevan highway, demanding authorities to reveal the circumstances around what happened to them.

The Ministry of Defense of Artsakh announced on December 16 in a statement that in the evening of December 15, in unknown circumstances, it lost contact with the military personnel of several combat positions of the Defense Army deployed in the direction of the Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd villages of Hadrut.

However, the Azerbaijani media had published videos online showing Armenian troops whom Azerbaijani servicemen have taken captive. But the Armenian authorities have not yet confirmed the captivity of these troops.

However, the protesters say they have recognized their family members in these videos. Most of the troops are from the province of Shirak. Their families claim that the servicemen were besieged for three days before they were taken captive.

Other than blocking roads, the families of the missing troops had earlier blocked the Shirak Governor’s Office, demanding a meeting with Governor Tigran Petrosyan, who told them to address the Ministry of Defense. In turn, the families say the defense ministry is not providing any information.

Several parts of the Yerevan-Gyumri road are closed. The Gyumri-Bavra road is also blocked.

 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

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Armenpress.am

60-man military unit “highly likely” taken captive by Azerbaijan, says Artsakh Ombudsman

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13:52, 16 December, 2020

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan says he contacted several organizations and servicemen on the ground regarding the information on the troops who went missing in Khtsaberd village. “According to the information that I gathered, a military unit consisting of around 60 servicemen went missing during these days in the direction of the village of Khtsaberd in Hadrut region, and it is highly likely that the video published by the Azerbaijani side shows this very unit,” he said.

“This incident is totally unacceptable and it must be quickly and strictly investigated by law enforcement agencies to determine all circumstances and the circle of those guilty. The authorities of Artsakh and Armenia are obliged to take immediate actions to repatriate all our prisoners of war as soon as possible. In addition, it is necessary to provide clear information to the families of the prisoners of war and conduct maximally transparent public communication to avoid disinformation and unnecessary tensions,” Beglaryan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

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Armenpress.am

President Harutyunyan says Artsakh and Russian troops thwart many Azeri provocations amid new POWs

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14:14, 16 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan has confirmed that “several dozens” of troops were taken captive by Azerbaijani armed forces in the direction of the village of Khtsaberd.

In an address to the nation on December 16, the President said that Azerbaijan continues its constant provocative behavior, with actions in Khtsaberd and Berdadzor being one of the latest.

“The Defense Army servicemen and the Russian peacekeepers thwarted various provocations by Azerbaijani troops, and yesterday evening they were repelled from the outskirts of the Hin Shen village of Shushi. These days no one was hurt in the direction of Berdadzor, and the adversary wasn’t allowed to enter any settlement. Unfortunately, several dozens of our troops were taken captive by the Azerbaijani side in the direction of Khtsaberd, and now the defense ministry is determining all circumstances. I will personally be coherent in bringing those guilty for this incident to legal accountability. Their quick and safe repatriation must be the focus of our efforts, and we are already taking steps in this direction,” Harutyunyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

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Armenpress.am

Artsakh president quits ruling party

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14:42, 16 December, 2020

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan has announced he is stepping down as Chairman of the ruling Free Motherland (AHK) party.

“I have decided to abandon the position of Free Motherland Party president and leave the party in order for me to be able to act and be perceived in the post of the President of the Republic as a head of state above any party, as a politician who must be accepted as a unifying person especially in times of crises,” Harutyunyan said in an address.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1037995.html?fbclid=IwAR2nIAINR_A2cTp-EzWAHc6Mbi8jgmQVCw2cowMi_5n9e-Sd2xJABJSOamg

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Armenpress.am

Attack on Shushi’s Ghazanchetsots Cathedral a possible war crime – Human Rights Watch

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15:42, 16 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani forces attacked a church in the city of Shushi on October 8, 2020 during the Nagorno Karabakh hostilities, in what appears to be a deliberate targeting in violation of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said.

“Two separate attacks, hours apart, on the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral on October 8 in the town of Shushi suggest that the church, a civilian object with cultural significance, was an intentional target despite the absence of evidence that it was used for military purposes. Weapon remnants Human Rights Watch collected at the site corroborate the use of guided munitions. President Ilham Aliyev said that the church could have been targeted only by mistake and was “not among military targets””, Human Rights Watch said.

“The two strikes on the church, the second one while journalists and other civilians had gathered at the site, appear to be deliberate,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “These attacks should be impartially investigated and those responsible held to account.”

On October 8, 2020, Azerbaijan carried out two strikes on the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, causing damage to the complex.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1038002.html?fbclid=IwAR0URnGJqzf09v1RpotY6bQucG0BP-jjvpjzEibaVXjuQLdtwn78Vh4wAXs

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The Independent

Dec 15 2020

‘I want the world to ban these weapons’ : Treating the white phosphorous victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh war

Liz Cookman in Yerevan reports from a specialist burns unit, as Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of using white phosphorous

W

ith eyes wide from trauma, almost every part of Arman Salmanyan’s body is covered in bandages and after two months of treatment he is not getting any better – this, the doctors say, is the effect of incendiary weapon white phosphorus.

At just 19 years old, he is one of a number of soldiers allegedly burnt with the substance during six weeks of brutal conflict in the mountainous breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which left over 5,000 Armenians and Azerbaijanis dead and many more injured.

Now bed-ridden at the National Burns Centre in the Armenian capital Yerevan, Salmanyan has had surgery three times to graft skin from his legs onto his hands, but there is still no progress.

He says he dreams of running again, but he is currently unable to do anything for himself and his parents rotate spending 24 hours a day at his side. He is not able to sit or walk, and the doctors don’t know if he ever will as it’s the first time they have dealt with these sort of injuries.

“I don’t feel angry about anything or anyone because of what happened to me because this is war,” he says. “But I want the world to ban and condemn the use of these munitions.”

International rights groups have accused both countries of war crimes due to the use of banned weapons such as cluster munitions. They have also accused each other of using white phosphorus, something the Azerbaijani defence ministry and Armenian officials deny.

Armenia’s International Committee for the Red Cross declined to comment on the use of the incendiary, but said they are investigating the claims, alongside many others.

While it is legal to use white phosphorus as a smokescreen or to light a battlefield, its use is currently only banned in civilian areas. However, if it comes into contact with humans it has a horrific cost, producing heat and fire that inflicts excruciating burns as deep as the bone. It can also cause respiratory problems and even organ failure.

Last month, a Human Rights Watch report found there was an “urgent need to revisit and strengthen the existing international law governing these weapons” due to the injuries they cause.

“Incendiary weapons, regardless of how they are delivered, cause significant human suffering in the immediate aftermath of attacks and in the weeks and months that follow. They inflict horrific burns that require painful treatment… White phosphorus munitions produce similarly cruel injuries to other [banned] incendiary weapons,” the report, put together with Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, said.

The incendiary can also destroy the local environment, infecting plants, contaminating rivers that may provide vital water supplies and it can remain deep within soil for several years.

Deputy director of the burns centre Karine Babayan said that 80 per cent of the men they are seeing have injuries consistent with white phosphorus damage. With a black light, she goes from room to room exposing tell-tale glow-in-the-dark speckles on injured men’s skin, which can still be seen months after contact.

“The first three days were very stressful as so many were hospitalised. The doctors were doing their work then going to their rooms and crying,” she says.

“We didn’t realise at first it was phosphorus as there is not much information about it, but then we started to see other problems such as heart problems, liver and breathing problems, people bleeding but with no obvious open injuries, and we realised something was wrong.”

Babayan said that after videos began to emerge that claimed to show white phosphorus raining down from the sky in Nagorno-Karabakh around a month into the war they began investigating the substance. She said they even saw people with possible white phosphorus burns on the first day of the conflict on 27 September.

One of those men, Suren (who did not want to give his full name), a 23-year-old contract soldier, was hospitalised with 50 others on that first day. He says his car was hit with an Israeli kamikaze drone that was carrying the incendiary near the front line, killing his commander and two other soldiers.

Still pacing in pain two-and-a-half months later, Suren’s friend tries to pull a loose thread from the bandages on his leg and it immediately catches fire as it drags along his burnt skin.

“Suren underwent surgery, the wounds recovered and then old wounds reopened. He is still here and not recovering,” says Babayan.

“Our soldiers were treated like dogs for experiment.”

As well as burns, many of the men have fractures, eye and hearing problems from the force of explosions and mental health problems such as PTSD to deal with. The extent of their injuries also takes a significant toll on those close to them, who have to balance their emotions with providing care for them.

Svetlana Meliksetyan, 39, from near Yerevan, has only been home twice since her only son Vartnes Hovakimyan, 19, was burnt with an incendiary on October 15.

“They were left burnt by for one day until the doctors could get to them because no one knew where they were,” she says, her voice wavering in pain and tears filing her tired eyes. “Young men shouldn’t be taken to the front line.”

Mr Hovakimyan is being treated in the bed next to Salmanyan, and is also showing few signs of recovery.

“I want no mother to feel what we feel, no matter what country they are from,” his mother says.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/armenia-azerbaijan-vicrims-nagorno-karabakh-b1774313.html?utm_content=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR23nM_HwPQBCIdN4TrRm37c5h0POM5SBNlwUb053_s8ozBGa0OBFyfiBAE#Echobox=1608132428

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Washington Examiner

Dec 16 2020

Azerbaijan’s cynical approach to Jews is demeaning to all

by Michael Rubin

| December 16, 2020 12:57 PM

Against the backdrop of this autumn’s Nagorno-Karabakh war, another battle raged in Washington: partisans to the conflict seeking to sway American Jewry to their cause. In their telling, Azerbaijan was an enlightened society tolerant of all while Armenia was a deeply anti-Semitic country that supported Adolf Hitler.

Countries that embrace religious freedom seldom need to brag about how good they are to their minorities. The Netherlands, for example, seldom brags about how happy its Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, or Buddhists are. To hold indigenous Jewish communities on a pedestal, as Turkey and Azerbaijan do, is an obnoxious strategy. Not only does it suggest Jews think singularly and interpret policy through a religious lens rather than through the interests of the country in which they are citizens, but the strategy also carries an implied threat: Religious tolerance will be fleeting if Washington or Jerusalem do not abide by Ankara or Baku’s wishes. It’s the mafioso equivalent of, “Nice place you’ve got here; it would be a shame if anything happened to it.”

Indeed, representatives of Turkey’s Jewish community simultaneously tell American visitors how happy they are under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s leadership but appear terrified of running afoul of the mercurial ruler and quietly ask for advice on securing visas. While Turkish Jews can honestly say Turkey has historically been kind to the community, the community has declined under Erdogan as Turkish Jews vote with their feet. The Turkish president, meanwhile, makes little secret of his view that Turkey’s Jews are hostages to his approval of Israel’s behavior. That the Azerbaijani government and its proxies now embrace the same strategy does not assuage concerns.

Indeed, while Azeri diplomats and officials tell visitors that Azerbaijan is home to 30,000 Jews, the true population is less than a third of that as many in the community chose to emigrate when they had the opportunity. Jews also have a long history in Armenia. Armenian officials sometimes tell visitors the country is home to 500 Jews, although both emigration and intermarriage have also taken a toll on this number, and the true figure may be only half that. Regardless, numbers of Jews are likewise a silly metric for supposed anti-Semitism. Consider the fact that the Mountain Jewish community of Azerbaijan aside, most of the Jews in Baku and its environs date their arrival just to the late 19th or early 20th centuries and tied their presence to certain industries: Does that mean that anti-Semitism declined during the influx and then increased after the Ashkenazi Jews again emigrated? Or, to question the logic in a different way, is Bhutan more anti-Semitic than Iran because Iran has more Jews? Is Canada more anti-Semitic than the United States?

Azerbaijan has historically been enlightened with regard to religious pluralism, and polls show anti-Semitic attitudes among Azerbaijanis to be less in most cases than Armenians. But there still have been anti-Semitic incidents in Azerbaijan in recent years, such as the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Baku. Nadraran, a town just 15 miles from Baku, is famous for being a stronghold of Hezbollah, though this is certainly the exception rather than the rule in Azerbaijan today.

Of greater concern, however, should be Azerbaijan’s partnership and general submissiveness to an increasingly anti-Semitic Turkey. Diplomats say the Turkish Foreign Ministry demarches its Azeri counterparts to limit the number of Jews and Israelis at diplomatic functions. Azerbaijan’s recent utilization of Syrian mercenaries, some of whom previously worked for al Qaeda affiliates or the Islamic State, also undercut the notion of Azeri liberalism. To ally with and fight alongside those who would behead Christians and enslave non-Muslim minorities is hardly a sign that Jews will remain safe in Azerbaijan. Sometimes, lavish spreads in luxury hotels for visiting dignitaries are not enough to obscure reality.

There is an irony when Azeris accuse Armenians of sympathy toward Hitler when Azeri President Ilham Aliyev appears to harbor a fascination with the German dictator. Just as Hitler defined his enemy as Jews inside Germany, Jews outside Germany, and those who would support the Jews, Aliyev has made similar comments with regard to Armenians. Aliyev has also embraced eliminationist rhetoric. “Armenia, as a country, is of no importance. In fact, it is a colony, an outpost; a territory governed from abroad which was artificially created in ancient Azerbaijani lands,” he said in 2012. In 2018, the Azeri dictator declared, “Yerevan is our historic land and we, Azerbaijanis, must return to these Azerbaijani lands.” Just last week, Aliyev repeated his quest for further territorial conquest (Azeri lebensraum) defining Zangerzur, Sevan, and Yerevan as “Azerbaijani territories” while Erdogan bragged about his “Caucasus Islamic Army.”

Simply put, while it is true that religious freedom is the canary in the coal mine to determine the reality of a regime, trajectory also matters. Azeri and Armenian officials and their respective diasporas may castigate the other, but both societies have traditionally embraced tolerance toward their indigenous Jewish communities. What should be of greater concern, however, is the recent trajectory of Azerbaijan’s leadership not only to embrace rhetoric rooted in the Armenian genocide but also to welcome as a partner a Turkish leader whose obsession lays not with territorial dispute but rather with religious warfare, jihad, and deeply anti-Semitic conspiracies. Simply put, the days of Azerbaijan being an oasis for Jews is now in the past.

Michael Rubin (@Mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/azerbaijans-cynical-approach-to-jews-is-demeaning-to-all

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Public Radio of Armenia

Dec 16 2020

Video showing Armenian servicemen being freed from siege authentic, Defense Ministry says

Armenia’s Ministry of Defense has confirmed the authenticity of the video circulating on the web, showing a group of Armenian servicemen being taken out of blockade from the area of Hin Tagher-Khtsaberd villages in the Hadrut region.

“The video is real,” the Defense Ministry said.

It added that the operation was carried out thanks to the active steps of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, with the direct mediation of commander, Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov.

Artsakh’s Defense Ministry said this morning contact had been lost with the personnel of several military positions located in the direction of Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd villages in the vicinity of Hadrut.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2020/12/16/video-showing-armenian-servicemen-being-freed-from-siege-authentic-defense-ministry-says/

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Public Radio of Armenia

Dec 17 2020

Not a single meter from the territory of Armenia will be ceded – Defense Minister

Not a single meter from the territory of the Republic of Armenia will be ceded, Armenia’s Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan said at a meeting with the heads of a number of communities of Syunik province.

The participants of the meeting presented to the Minister of Defense their concerns about the difficult situation created in the region due to the border adjustments. The community leaders reported that due to the border changes, a number of settlements will be targeted by the enemy, including the regional center Kapan.

The Minister of Defense noted that the border is being adjusted in the presence of high-ranking officers of both sides, that not a single meter will be conceded from the territory of the Republic of Armenia. He stressed that these areas will be controlled by the Russian border guards, and a relevant agreement has already been reached. The Minister said it will create additional guarantees to strengthen the security system.

Vagharshak Harutyunyan noted that a whole complex of measures is being taken to ensure the security of these zones, in particular, new military units are being formed, new infrastructure is being created, and this process will be continuous.

https://en.armradio.am/2020/12/17/not-a-single-meter-from-the-territory-of-the-republic-of-armenia-will-be-ceded-defense-minister/

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Public Radio of Armenia

Dec 17 2020

Dutch Parliament passes motion, calling for humanitarian assistance to Nagorno Karabakh

The Dutch Parliament passed a motion today, calling on the government to immediately offer humanitarian aid to Armenians affected by the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, in support of their basic necessities, such as food, shelter and medical aid, reports the Federation of Armenian Organizations in The Netherlands.

The motion establishes that many hospitals and other basic facilities in Nagorno-Karabakh have been devastated by the violence of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Syrian rebels.

It stressed the urgent need for humanitarian assistance for both the civilian population of Nagorno Karabakh and people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.

From 27 September 2020 to 8 December 2020 there have been 22 motions submitted in the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamen) of the Netherlands concerning the war violence by Azerbaijan, Turkey and Syrian rebels against Nagorno-Karabakh.

https://en.armradio.am/2020/12/17/dutch-parliament-passes-motion-calling-for-humanitarian-assistance-to-nagorno-karabakh/