Statue of a Dictator (Aliyev Clan)

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Armenpress.am

Bundestag member Till Mansmann calls for German government’s pressure on Azerbaijan

15:40, 28 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 28, ARMENPRESS. Member of the German Bundestag Till Mansmann has called on the German federal government to increase diplomatic pressure on the Azerbaijani government given the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a letter addressed to German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, the legislator described the alarming humanitarian situation and the total blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, the German-Armenian Forum reported.

He told the German foreign minister that the 120,000 Armenians are facing a humanitarian disaster and need urgent international aid.

Mansmann, the Chairman of the German-Armenian Forum, praised the EU’s efforts for its constructive role in the extremely difficult conflict. He said that the launch of the EU mission was a good instrument and recalled that in January 2023 the European Parliament called on Azerbaijan to comply with the 9 November 2020 agreement and open the Lachin Corridor.

“The security and basic needs of the people must not become a playing card for political interests. Taking into consideration our support for Ukraine in the Russian war of aggression, we must have a clear position in this issue as well and unambiguously show that our humanism doesn’t have political or geopolitical calculations. That’s why I am asking you to increase diplomatic pressure on the Government of Azerbaijan in order for the safe and unimpeded access of urgently needed relief supplies get ensured in line with international humanitarian law. In addition, I am asking you to look into the possibility for humanitarian aid by the federal government. We can’t solve this conflict for a short-term, but we can’t allow famine to take place on the border of our continent,” Mansmann said.

Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022. The Azerbaijani blockade constitutes a gross violation of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, which established that the 5km-wide Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Furthermore, on February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since. The ICJ reaffirmed its order on 6 July 2023.

Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor. The blockade has led to shortages of essential products such as food and medication. Azerbaijan has also cut off gas and power supply into Nagorno Karabakh, with officials warning that Baku seeks to commit ethnic cleansing against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hospitals have suspended normal operations.

 

 

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Armenpress.am

President Macron announces new French diplomatic initiative to ramp up international pressure on Azerbaijan

21:34, 28 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 28, ARMENPRESS. French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday a new diplomatic initiative to increase international pressure on Azerbaijan to end its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Speaking to French ambassadors at a conference, Macron said he will “have an opportunity to speak this week with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.”

“We will demand full respect for the humanitarian Lachin Corridor’s functions. We will once again present a diplomatic initiative in this direction on the international level in order to increase pressure,” Macron added.

On August 25, the French Le Figaro newspaper reported that France plans to introduce a UN Security Council resolution regarding the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from the Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin Corridor.

 

 

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Armenpress.am

In an effort to whitewash its criminal record, Azerbaijan unilaterally decides to send 'aid’ to victims of its blockade

10:46, 29 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. In an apparent effort to whitewash its lengthy record of human rights violations and disregard for international law, the Azerbaijani authorities, who have caused a humanitarian disaster in Nagorno-Karabakh, have now unilaterally decided to send “humanitarian aid” to the victims of their own actions.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been blockaded by Azerbaijan since December 2022. The blockade has led to a humanitarian crisis, with shortages of all essential products.

Azerbaijan had previously claimed to be willing to send supplies through the Aghdam road. This was viewed in Nagorno-Karabakh as an attempt by Baku to subjugate them. Nagorno-Karabakh rejected the offers on receiving any Azeri aid through the Aghdam-Stepanakert road despite the crisis.

On August 29, Azerbaijani news media reported that the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society will send 40 tons of flour to the Aghdam-Stepanakert road in what Azerbaijan hypocritically described as a “humanitarian gesture.”

 

 

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Armenpress.am

France lambasts Azerbaijani government for ‘illegal’ and ‘immoral’ actions in Nagorno- Karabakh

15:34, 29 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Catherine Colonna, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, has lambasted the Azerbaijani authorities for their “illegal and immoral” policy of forcing the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to leave their homes.

“The strategy of chokehold aimed at inciting a mass exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh is illegal, as already defined by the international court. That policy is also immoral,” Colonna said at an ambassadorial meeting.

Foreign Minister Colonna added that France is mobilizing its efforts for the establishment of just and sustainable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which will allow to implement border delimitation.

Just and sustainable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan would also allow the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to live in their homeland and for their rights, culture and history to be respected, she said.

 

 

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Aug 29 2023

Azerbaijan wants to erase the Armenian presence in Artsakh. Israeli expert

Alla Ghazaryan

The policy conducted by Azerbaijan is the same as the policy of the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide at the beginning of the twentieth century. Yaron Weiss, an Israeli expert on the South Caucasus affairs and a columnist for "Davar", stated this in an interview with the "Orbeli" analytical center.

- Respectable Yaron Weiss, thank You for accepting interview invitation. So, despite the 2 resolutions of the UN Court of Justice, the many calls of the international community, including the member states of the UN Security Council, Azerbaijan has been blocking the Lachin Corridor for about 8 months, keeping Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) under siege. Baku has stopped the flow of natural gas and electricity to Artsakh, and in recent days it has banned even humanitarian cargo transportation. All this has caused a deep humanitarian crisis in Artsakh, and the President of Artsakh has declared the country a disaster zone. According to You, what is the ultimate goal of such a policy conducting by Azerbaijan?

- There is all the evidence that Azerbaijan wants to erase the Armenian presence in Artsakh. I've been saying this for years. Unfortunately, everything that many people warned and feared of is happening right now.

The ethnic cleansing, the rewriting of history, the Armenophobia, this is an Azeri policy that has been going on for years. The policy is the same as the policy of the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide at the beginning of the twentieth century.

That is why it is important to stop the ethnic cleansing while it is happening. The civilized world excels at holding commemorative ceremonies, but excels less at preventing events that are followed by commemorative ceremonies. This is precisely the reason why it is now necessary to increase the explanatory effort and open the eyes of world leaders.

- How do You assess the impact of the crisis in Artsakh and the aggressive actions of Baku on the region at all?

- When a large amount of modern weapons is in the hands of a dictatorship, especially when it comes to a dictatorship ruled by one family with a dubious reputation for violating human rights, the result of this is the destabilization of the region. That is why we are now witnessing the deliberate starvation of the people of Artsakh.

- According to You how what can the international community, as well as Israel, do towards the solution of this catastrophic crisis?

- A few weeks ago, a group of academics, journalists, religious leaders, activists and intellectuals urged the President of Israel (who recently visited Baku) to leverage his excellent connections with the dictator Aliyev to influence him to open the Lachin corridor. Israel is an influential factor in the region. It is most needed that all the friends of Armenia around the world, as well as all lovers of freedom and democracy should take a similar step in their countries.

- I would like to touch on the Armenian-Israeli relations as well, how would you characterize them? It is obvious that there are some gaps in bilateral relations. Will you list them and their reasons?

- The short-sighted Israeli policy sees the improvement of relations between Israel and Azerbaijan as an Israeli interest. It is well known that the government of Azerbaijan considers any Israeli approach to Armenia a step that hurts Azerbaijan. For this reason, Israel is very wary of getting close to Armenia.

We also see this in the Israeli public media, which is influenced by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the private media, which is influenced by those with interests in the industrial sector who refrain from attacking Azerbaijan and refrain from covering the crisis in Artsakh.
In recent weeks, we have been exerting a lot of effort convincing foreign news editors to ensure that there will be coverage of the situation in Artsakh, as is covered in other countries of the world.
Unfortunately, Israel has not yet opened an embassy in Yerevan. This is directly related to the desire not to anger the Aliyev family.

The Embassy of Armenia has been operating in Tel Aviv for three years. It seems that Ambassador Doctor Arman Akopian works tirelessly to develop the relations between Armenia and Israel.
I know that efforts are being made to increase tourism ties between the countries, direct flights between Yerevan and Tel Aviv, relations between academic institutions and of course attempts to connect potential investors.

Dr. Akopian has a big challenge to serve as ambassador to a country that is afraid to over-cultivate ties with Armenia.

- I’m sure You know, that Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited Azerbaijan. As it became clear from the meetings, in Baku, Galant discussed ways to strengthen strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel. Gallant also referred to threats from Iran. How do You feel about the Azerbaijani-Israeli strategic cooperation? Does it have more benefits or are the challenges often overlooked?

- The censorship in Israel prevents citizens from information about the nature of relations with Azerbaijan. Officials point out that there is strategic importance in relations with Azerbaijan because it is a Shiite country bordering Iran. It is implied that the tightening of relations is necessary for Israel's national security.

I believe that this official policy is intended to be a smokescreen and legitimize massive arms sales to a country that is considered by most of the Western countries as a dictatorship.
Israel is known for massive arms sales to dictatorships. When Israel sells weapons to dictatorships in Africa or East Asia, the government cannot justify this with national security considerations. because these countries are not in the immediate circle of the threat to Israel. But in the case of Azerbaijan, the government justifies the sale of weapons by national security considerations to avoid public criticism.

We have learned from history that when Israel strengthened its ties with dictatorships such as Iran during the Shah's regime and South Africa during the apartheid, this caused great hostility towards Israel from the citizens of those countries immediately after the change of power. The same will happen in Azerbaijan after a change of government takes place in it or after the oil runs out. Hence, Israel's policy is short-sighted.

https://orbeli.am/en/post/1177/2023-08-29/Azerbaijan%20wants%20to%20erase%20the%20Armenian%20presence%20in%20Artsakh.%20Israeli%20expert

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Aug 29 2023

Echoes of Mount Lebanon Famine in Blockade of Lachin Corridor

OPINION - August 29, 2023

By Julian McBride

The Karabakh region in the South Caucasus has seen endless bloodshed and perpetual conflict ever since the USSR forcibly incorporated Armenia and Azerbaijan into the Union. Akin to how modern-day Russia keeps various ethnic groups at each other’s throats, the Soviet Union also practiced a similar method in the South Caucasus.

Transferring an ethnic majority Armenian region to the Azerbaijani SSR, Josef Stalin hoped to keep the two ethnic groups, which never truly got along throughout the medieval period, in a state of endless conflict. Indeed, several decades and two brutal wars later, the Karabakh region inside Azerbaijan continues to witness unimaginable horrors, which have unfolded directly under the nose of the international community.

Azerbaijan has regained most of the region following the Second Karabakh War, and the resulting Russia-brokered Trilateral Agreement remains tenuous. However, wanting to increase their control over the remaining 120,000 Karabakh Armenians, Azerbaijan has enacted a several months long blockade of the region. Unless the siege is lifted, a manufactured famine and genocide could result.

The Lachin Blockade

The current blockade against the 120,000 Armenians started on December 12th, 2022, under the guise of protest action by Azerbaijani’ eco-activists.’ The Azerbaijani military has also taken part in the siege, periodically cutting gas to the Armenians in Karabakh during the winter in the hope that these measures would force them to flee.

Reports have surfaced of malnutrition, miscarriages, and lack of medical equipment for urgent assistance for residents of the region. Karabakh Armenians are forced to travel to Armenia for urgent aid, and with the Lachin corridor blocked, they fear going through the Azerbaijani army-controlled Aghdam road over fear of harassment and abduction.

Russian peacekeepers have been lukewarm toward the ceasefire violations and have rarely moved to stem any violence. With the Kremlin allegedly using Azerbaijan’s rich gas industry as a conduit to bypass Western sanctions, Moscow has little incentive to directly support its CSTO ally.

Repeated Calls to Allow Aid to Flow Through

Various international humanitarian organizations, from Amnesty International, Crisis Group, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, have called on Azerbaijan to lift the blockade and allow urgent food and medical supplies into the region. Nevertheless, Baku has continuously refused these pleas.

The ICRC has been blocked from sending a long convoy of aid into Karabakh, and Azerbaijan’s ruling government has refused to allow aid to go through the Lachin corridor. The Lachin corridor is the designated road that both Baku and Yerevan signed as part of the Trilateral Agreement and capitulation facilitated by Moscow.

Ilham Aliyev and his MPs have stated they will not allow aid through Lachin, which they allege has been used for “weapons smuggling” and have demanded that only the Aghdam road, controlled by the Azerbaijani army, is used as the designated crossing point from now on. The Aghdam Road has no international monitors, and Armenian citizens have been unlawfully detained and abducted there under the guise of “terrorism.”

Global Reaction

The European Union and the United States have called for the blockade lifted and aid allowed through the Lachin corridor. Nevertheless, the EU and the United States have a sense of guilt and self-reflective policies; both have placated autocratic regimes such as Azerbaijan for several decades.

Previously, EU representatives have come under scrutiny for their ties to Azerbaijan and their oil policies with the South Caucasus nation, similar to how they formerly conducted business with Russia. The EU traded one oil tyrant in Vladimir Putin with another in Ilham Aliyev, and these policies have only fanned further aggression.

The Russian Federation has been lukewarm toward the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. With a geopolitical quagmire in Ukraine and prioritizing an increasingly disastrous war, Moscow is forced to look out for itself rather than support its allies. The 2022 clashes, amid which Armenia openly called on CSTO for help that never came, exemplified the hollow nature of the Russia-created defensive alliance.

Vladimir Putin, known to react harshly to what he perceives as ‘color revolutions,’ whether it’s Georgia, Ukraine, or Armenia, has held a grudge against Yerevan. Wanting Armenia to acknowledge it could not survive without Russian assistance, Moscow was perceived as the biggest winner of the Second Karabakh War as the Kremlin gained a significant foothold in the South Caucasus that it hadn’t had since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Mirroring the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon

Azerbaijan’s tactics against Armenia in the ongoing blockade mirror the late Ottoman Empire’s inhumane siege against Mount Lebanon during World War One. During the Great Famine, Djemal *****, one of the triumvirates that ruled the empire, blockaded medical and food supplies that the population of Mount Lebanon urgently needed.

As governor of Syria, and at war against the Entente, Djemal ***** used the excuse of the French naval blockade along the Eastern Mediterranean to enable the famine. Most of Mount Lebanon’s lifeline came through the Bekaa Valley of Ottoman Syria, which Djemal oversaw.

Nevertheless, over half of the population of Mount Lebanon, the majority of which were Christians, were starved to death by the end of the First World War. The famine came out of spite from the ruling Ottoman elite as the Christians of Mount Lebanon, primarily Maronites, fought for self-determination akin to the Armenians of Karabakh that created their own breakaway state of Artsakh.

The Young Turks aimed to keep Mount Lebanon under submission and break their semi-autonomous status under French protection with the famine. Aliyev, mirroring Djemal ***** and, to a greater extent, Slobodan Milosevic, aims to put the Karabakh Armenians under complete submission with this blockade, even if it means starving them to prove a point.

Armenia has attempted to appease Azerbaijan, with the current PM, Nikol Pashinyan recognizing Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory. Despite being the most open Armenian leader to dialogue and the peace process, Aliyev still refuses to give the Armenians of the region significant autonomy and has openly stated he never plans on opening a discussion on it.

Continuation of the Cycle of Violence

The former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has warned of a potential genocide if efforts aren’t mended to end the crisis. The counterproductive actions by Baku could ignite another war, which Armenia has warned could happen if the international community doesn’t apply pressure to end the blockade. Despite decades of fighting, violence, war crimes, and refugee crises, a siege that could lead to an artificial famine and genocide will only heighten the cycle of violence.

Aliyev wants to force complete submission and loyalty on Karabakh Armenians as subjects and not citizens with limited autonomy or equal rights, enacting the same manufactured famine Djemal ***** passed in Mount Lebanon. The world now faces its darkest hour in a hundred years—to do the right thing and call bluff on autocratic oil tyrants, or watch another Armenian genocide unfold before their eyes.

The views expressed in this article belong to the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of Geopoliticalmonitor.com.

https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/echoes-of-mount-lebanon-famine-in-blockade-of-lachin-corridor/

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Aug 30 2023

Azerbaijan blocks French convoy from reaching Nagorno-Karabakh, sends its own

30 August 2023

ByAni Avetisyan

The French humanitarian aid convoy to Nagorno-Karabakh. Image via social media.

Azerbaijan has blocked access to a French humanitarian convoy to Nagorno-Karabakh in less than a month, as Baku attempts to send a convoy of its own through Azerbaijani-controlled territory.

The convoy made up of ten lorries was sent by the Paris municipality and a number of humanitarian organisations on Wednesday morning. It set off from Yerevan to Kornidzor, joining other convoys at the Azerbaijani checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor previously sent by Armenia and France in late July and early August.

The convoy was accompanied by the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, who tweeted out at the Azerbaijani checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor — the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia — that they had been barred entry.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo with the French humanitarian convoy at the Lachin Corridor. Image via social media.

‘Here at the Lachin Corridor, we testify that no humanitarian aid can enter Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] in total violation of human rights’, said Hidalgo. ‘Our 10 humanitarian aid lorries were blocked.’

‘A humanitarian crisis is underway, it is urgent’, she added.

France has supported Armenia and its efforts to lift Baku’s blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin Corridor.

On Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called the blockade ‘immoral’, and stated that it aims to ‘provoke a mass exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh’.

Also on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev held a phone conversation, in which Aliyev accused Yerevan and Stepanakert of ‘creating artificial obstacles’ to prevent Nagorno-Karabakh’s access to humanitarian aid.

He criticised them for not agreeing to receive Azerbaijani aid through Aghdam and said that the Lachin Corridor would only be opened after Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh agree to the opening of the Aghdam–Stepanakert road.

Both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh reject Azerbaijani proposals to send humanitarian aid through Azerbaijani-controlled territory.

While some Western countries and the EU have welcomed Azerbaijan’s offer, EU High Commissioner Josep Borrell has made clear that the Aghdam–Stepanakert road cannot be an ‘alternative’ to the Lachin Corridor.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been under varying degrees of blockade since December and has been completely cut off from supplies from Armenia since mid-June.

Azerbaijan continues to deny that the region is under blockade as the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh worsens.

Forty tonnes of Azerbaijani aid

On Tuesday, Baku announced that it was sending 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh through Aghdam with the mediation of the Azerbaijani Red Crescent.

The Azerbaijani convoy reached the Russian peacekeepers’ checkpoint on the line of contact outside of Askeran (Asgaran) later that day. They are waiting for the peacekeeping mission to facilitate the passage of the goods to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenians residing in Askeran gathered to protest the arrival of the Azerbaijani convoy. Both the Azerbaijani Red Crescent and the Armenian protesters have erected tents on either side of the line of contact.

Azerbaijani media reported that Russian peacekeepers stationed at the checkpoint had erected barriers to prevent the advancement of the Azerbaijani convoy.

Nagorno-Karabakh has also rejected Azerbaijan’s offer of humanitarian aid, with its parliamentary speaker, Davit Ishkhanyan, stating that Stepanakert had decided to ‘keep that road closed’.

Earlier this week, Nagorno-Karabakh president Arayik Harutyunyan similarly stressed that Stepanakert would only accept humanitarian aid sent through the Lachin Corridor.

After the Azerbaijani convoy was sent, the Armenian Red Cross criticised the Azerbaijani Red Crescent for ‘violating the fundamental principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’.

‘Presently, Azerbaijan […] using the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society is trying to obstruct the activity of the ICRC as the only humanitarian international organisation operating in Nagorno-Karabakh’, stated the organisation.

 For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

https://oc-media.org/azerbaijan-blocks-french-convoy-from-reaching-nagorno-karabakh-sends-its-own/

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Armenpress.am

CoE Commissioner for Human Rights warned of Azerbaijan’s goal to perpetrate ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh

10:58, 30 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. On August 29, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting with Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe. The meeting took place on the sidelines of Minister Mirzoyan’s visit to the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia, the foreign ministry said in a press release.

The interlocutors emphasized the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, dire conditions of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and human rights violations resulting from Azerbaijan’s ongoing 8-months-long blockade and total siege since June 15, as well as the urgency of overcoming the situation. The Foreign Minister noted that by its actions Azerbaijan openly demonstrates its real goal - to subject the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic cleansing.

Foreign Minister of Armenia appreciated the statements of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the CoE regarding the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh voiced the day before, as well as since the blockade of the Lachine corridor, emphasizing the need for unimpeded implementation of possible steps within the framework of the Commissioner's mandate and CoE tools.

Effective cooperation of Armenia with the Office of the Commissioner of the CoE in matters of human rights protection was also touched upon.

 

 

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Armenpress.am

Mayor of Paris accuses Azerbaijani government of committing genocide in Nagorno- Karabakh

16:37, 30 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Officials from a number of regions of France have arrived in Armenia to express support and friendship to the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo said at a press conference in Goris.

The French delegation that escorted a humanitarian convoy for Nagorno-Karabakh to the Lachin Corridor on Wednesday includes representatives of various political parties who are all united by Armenia and Artsakh.

“We are here today because the Armenian organizations in France told us it was time to act, time to address the people of France. And there was especially a need to bring together the French local authorities in order to be able to send humanitarian aid to Artsakh. It was possible to collect ten cargo trucks of humanitarian aid thanks to the unity of local self-governing bodies, and the aid consists of food, baby food, milk powder, generators and solar panels. This will allow Artsakh to withstand,” the Mayor of Paris said.

She said that the aid is intended for six cities in Artsakh that have been under blockade since December 2022.

“Our message is clear and simple. First of all we are calling for respect of international law. The Armenians in Artsakh are under blockade involuntarily and this blockade is being perpetrated in violation of international law and the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement. What’s happening today in Artsakh is similar to genocide. The former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has described what’s happening in Artsakh as genocide, and four of the principles defining genocide have been acknowledged by the international community and experts. The advisor to the UN Secretary General responsible for genocide prevention is also using the same word to describe the situation in Artsakh. Genocide, ethnic cleansing by an authoritarian regime against a people that is simply asking for its rights to be respected, rights that any person or nation has. This is why we’ve come here to witness it and condemn it. And we are also asking the French President to use his position at the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution with the purpose of respecting the rights of the people of Artsakh,” Anne Hidalgo said.

 

 

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Armenpress.am

French senator accuses Azerbaijan of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh

16:43, 30 August 2023

GORIS, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. French Senator Bruno Retailleau has accused the government of Azerbaijan of carrying out genocide and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Bruno Retailleau, a senator representing The Republicans group, has arrived in Armenia as part of the delegation escorting the French humanitarian convoy for Nagorno-Karabakh.

“What’s happening in Artsakh leads to ethnic cleansing and geocide. The main reason that we are here is because a tragedy is unfolding. What’s happening today is transforming Artsakh into a concentration camp under an open sky. This attempt of ethnic cleansing and genocide is aimed against 120 thousand people, including 30 thousand children. We demand the French President, to utilize France’s position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to introduce a resolution for adoption that would eventually allow to open the Lachin Corridor and put it under international protection, in order for transit to be restored along the humanitarian road,” the French senator said at a press conference in Goris.

The French humanitarian convoy for Nagorno-Karabakh led by the Mayor of Paris has arrived to the border area near the entrance of Lachin Corridor.

 

 

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Armenpress.am

‘Time to sanction Azerbaijan,’ MEP Nathalie Loiseau

18:12, 30 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Member of the European Parliament Nathalie Loiseau has called for sanctions against the government of Azerbaijan for its actions in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“There’s a humanitarian disaster in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Nathalie Loiseau, the Chair of the European Parliament’s Security and Defence Subcommittee said in a post on X. “It is time to impose sanctions against Azerbaijan,” she added, sharing a BBC article on the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1118413.html?fbclid=IwAR2Ohqa3D3VnQ446hK6CKadjpwDz_dOfUP_CpYpeYyu2fq5HC3g3lAKtu_o

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Armenpress.am

French humanitarian convoy for Nagorno-Karabakh blocked by Azerbaijan

18:56, 30 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has blocked a French humanitarian convoy from delivering essential aid to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo personally lead the convoy of 10 trucks from Yerevan to the entrance of blockaded Lachin Corridor. The trucks were unable to continue to Nagorno-Karabakh due to the Azeri blockade.

Xavier Bertrand, the President of the Regional Council of the French region of Hauts-de-France, said that their convoy was barred and condemned the move.

President of Nagorno-Karabakh Arayik Harutyunyan said he hoped the convoy would make it through and mitigate the sufferings of the people.

Meanwhile, a group of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh organized a meeting in the central plaza of Stepanakert to express gratitude to the French regions for the initiative.

The new convoy, sent by the City of Paris, the regions of Île-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Hauts-de-France, Occitania and Pays de la Loire, joined the Armenian humanitarian convoy and the previously sent French aid truck stranded at the entrance of Lachin Corridor in Kornidzor because of the Azerbaijani blockade.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1118417.html?fbclid=IwAR0F6uECScKRZuT08UlXlYTZaCoBDuQ8zlWzFN-jipNt-pA0MFR3Xmx6aCw

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Armenpress.am

ECHR gives Azerbaijan by September 7 to provide information on kidnapped Nagorno- Karabakh students

16:53, 31 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The European Court of Human Rights has given Azerbaijan by September 7 to provide information about the three students from Nagorno-Karabakh who were kidnapped by Azerbaijani border guards in Lachin Corridor on August 28, the Office of the Representative of Armenia for International Legal Matters said in a press release.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1118480.html?fbclid=IwAR0gofQurM49wlIurk1tR66lQzTleahwNjEch_d6J0xgeE4myjzTw1YjBKc

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Azerbaijan seeks to exercise customs and border control in Lachin Corridor in violation of 2020 agreement

16:58, 31 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani government seeks to establish customs and border control in Lachin Corridor in order to reopen it, in direct violation of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, which stipulates that Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers.

Azerbaijani presidential assistant Hikmet Hajiyev, speaking to reporters, once again linked the possible opening of the Lachin Corridor with the opening of the Aghdam-Stepanakert road.

“The opening of the Lachin Corridor could be another component of the process of opening the Aghdam-Stepanakert road,” he said, adding that the opening of Lachin Corridor must take place with what he described as in compliance with Azeri national legislation and border control.

The Aghdam-Stepanakert road has been blocked by Nagorno-Karabakh residents after Azeri authorities announced intentions to send "aid" through that road, a move decried in Nagorno-Karabakh as a publicity stunt and attempt to subjugate them.

The Lachin Corridor has been blockaded by Azerbaijan since December 2022.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1118481.html?fbclid=IwAR19XZtmNiFFZmhhqBEwEY-wI6PZOWXflusLKo1nLrrCsSQdPGOUZLlRTTA

[Yervant1]

The National, UAE

Aug 31 2023

How should we view the latest stand-off in the South Caucasus?

Whether it is a negotiating ploy or not, the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh has raised eyebrows

DAVID

LEPESKA

The binding issue for Armenians around the globe for the better part of a century has been genocide – gathering evidence to prove they suffered humanity’s greatest horror and leveraging their resulting campaign into a potent voice on the international stage. So it should now come as little surprise that as a sizable chunk of its people may face starvation, they have been quick to tell the world of the looming catastrophe.

Since the Soviet Union’s collapse, Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, with Azerbaijan gaining control of the territory in late 2020. Now recognised as part of Azerbaijan but patrolled by Russian troops, Nagorno-Karabakh and some nearby areas have since the 1990s been governed by a separatist ethnic Armenian entity, the Republic of Artsakh.

In the latest South Caucasus tussle, Azerbaijan has blocked the main road into the disputed region from the Armenian capital Yerevan, leaving the 120,000 overwhelmingly ethnic Armenians who live in Artsakh under siege. The trouble started last December when Azerbaijan enacted a soft blockade, allowing food, supplies and aid to pass through the Lachin Corridor, as the link is known.

Soon after a mid-June scuffle with Armenian troops, Baku completely closed the corridor, in violation of their 2020 arrangement. More than two months later, reports from the region are grim. Cafes and restaurants have closed. Supermarket shelves are empty.

Clinics are low on essential medicines, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Ambulances and public buses no longer run due to fuel shortages. Neighbours barter fruit and vegetables as children stand in bread lines for hours and mothers trudge arduous mountain paths for cooking oil. Many districts of the regional capital, Stepanakert, are without water and electricity.

Facing a potential impasse, Azerbaijan may have sought to tip the scales in its favour by putting in place a blockade

Baku says that it acted to prevent an “ecocide” by the Artsakh government and that the Lachin blockade aims to halt Armenian smuggling into Nagorno-Karabakh. Azeri officials also blame the region’s Armenian leadership for locals suffering, pointing out that the Republic of Artsakh refused their offer to deliver goods via the Azeri town of Aghdam.

“An administration of occupation is blocking the Azerbaijani government’s provision of food and medicine to an Azerbaijani region,” Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign affairs adviser to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, wrote in National Interest this month.

Local Armenians dismiss this as propaganda and say the plan is to starve them into leaving. The western world, which tends to favour mostly Christian Armenia, has pricked up its ears. Luis Moreno Ocampo, a former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, argued in early August that the starvation inflicted on Armenians represented genocide.

Of course, no people should be deprived of food and medicines, or forced to face starvation. But considering the circumstances, this seems more like siege as a negotiating tactic rather than anything else.

Back in June, Baku and Yerevan were chest-deep in negotiations on a long-term settlement and had recently made significant progress. The main sticking point, after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan officially recognised Azerbaijan’s territorial control of the region, was the fate of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerevan insists they be granted special rights and security guarantees, while Baku is unwilling to resume talks on the enclave’s status and seeks mainly to secure complete control over the territory.

Facing a potential impasse, Azerbaijan may have sought to tip the scales in its favour by putting in place a blockade, which would probably end in one of two ways: either Yerevan would be forced to capitulate to avoid mass starvation; or so many Armenians would flee that the region’s demography would change, and the issue would cease to be a sticking point. On the weekend, Azerbaijani media reported that hundreds of Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have been allowed to pass through Lachin into Armenia in recent days.

What Baku appears to have failed to account for is that the world tends to frown on even the suggestion of genocide. The outpouring of western support for Armenians and condemnation of Azerbaijan’s ploy both seem to grow by the day, as another major institution or top official highlights the harrowing humanitarian catastrophe.

The UN Security Council held an emergency session on the issue, the EU warned of “dire consequences” for locals, and the US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, urged Baku to “restore free movement through the corridor”.

Any agreement reached now between the two countries will have been clearly coerced, and its approval by the international community might greenlight the future use of blockades and other strong-arm tactics. At this point, the likeliest outcome may be Azerbaijan lifting the blockade to enable renewed talks, with reduced leverage.

More than a century ago, amid the chaos of the First World War, Ottoman forces drove hundreds of thousands of Armenians from their homes. Many ended up in the Syrian desert and died of starvation. As another mass starvation event looms, Yerevan has been gaining global sympathy.

Even in Turkey, the staunchest ally of Azerbaijan, public figures are speaking out in support of Armenians. “Just as the Berlin blockade was broken,” dozens of well-known Turkish writers and journalists urged in an open letter this week, “we call for breaking the blockade of Karabakh through airlift and thus putting an end to this human tragedy.”

Sieges are relatively common in war. But during peace talks, publicly starving a sizable population – particularly one that has effectively highlighted its suffering for decades – seems unwise.

School starts up again this week in Stepanakert. Expect the buses to return to the roads soon.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/2023/08/31/how-should-we-view-the-latest-stand-off-in-the-south-caucasus/

[Yervant1]

Newsweek

Aug 31 2023

Armenians Face a Second Genocide. Will the World Intervene? | Opinion

THOMAS BECKER , LEGAL AND POLICY DIRECTOR AT THE UNIVERSITY NETWORK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

The war in Ukraine has dominated headlines in Western media since it began. But the world has largely ignored another humanitarian crisis not far away—one that is reaching a boiling point and finally is starting to get a bit of the attention it merits.

Over the past few weeks, two international legal experts, the first UN special advisor on the prevention of genocide and the founding chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, issued separate reports warning of the genocidal implications of the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh caused by Azerbaijan's blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the key access road for the enclave of 120,000 ethnic Armenians.

But for many in the region—like a young survivor who, for security reasons, I will refer to only by his first name of Mels—ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and on its border has been ongoing for several years.

Azerbaijani forces kidnapped Mels in Nagorno-Karabakh in December 2020 and for 10 months tortured him with bats and chains, starved him, and forced him to chant "Karabakh is Azerbaijan" and "Glory to the president of Azerbaijan."

Mels' grandmother prayed for him to be alive, offering her life to God to bring him home. The Red Cross eventually facilitated this, but the day he returned, 30 pounds lighter and unrecognizable, she died.

Mels is one of the roughly 100 Armenian victims of atrocities that we at the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) interviewed in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh over the past two years.

Western media is just beginning to report on the crisis within Nagorno-Karabakh caused by the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting this Armenian-populated territory within the borders to Azerbaijan to Armenia proper.

The area, which ended up in Azerbaijan due to the vagaries of internal Soviet borders, has operated as a self-governing entity for three decades after the fall of communism. Azerbaijan seized control of much of it in a 2020 war which cost thousands of Armenian lives.

Now, Azerbaijan has restricted movement of people, goods, and aid into and out of Nagorno-Karabakh for 258 days, strangling the residents' access to basic services, emptying grocery stores, causing hours-long bread lines, and depriving hospitals of life-saving medicines and supplies.

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have denounced the blockade. Last week, in an emergency UN Security Council meeting about the crisis, Azerbaijan ignored calls by the United States, Britain, France, and Russia to allow the free flow of aid into the territory, responding with the claim that "people are happy. They are dancing at their wedding party. This is a celebration. Very tasty cookies!"

While the world is largely focusing on Azerbaijan's blockade of the Lachin Corridor, Azerbaijan's activities there are hardly isolated acts of aggression.

The reality is that Azerbaijani forces have been continuously violating the human rights and sovereignty of Armenians within and along the border of Nagorno-Karabakh since the 44-Day war in 2020. Azerbaijani forces have continued to torture, displace, extrajudicially kill, and forcibly "disappear" ethnic Armenian soldiers and civilians, both inside of Nagorno-Karabakh and in sovereign Armenia, in violation of the ceasefire agreement and international law.

Our team at UNHR, including lawyers, academics, and students from Harvard, UCLA, Wesleyan, and Yale, have witnessed such violations firsthand. We spent hundreds of hours collecting the stories of victims and their families, some of which we present in a summary briefing paper released last week entitled "Tip of the Iceberg: Understanding Azerbaijan's Blockade of the Lachin Corridor as Part of a Wider Genocidal Campaign against Ethnic Armenians."

Most victims we interviewed believe that the international community has simply forgotten them. "It feels like I don't even exist in the world," a woman named Ani told us after soldiers beheaded her elder brother Yuri and circulated a video of the crime on social media.

The former ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, said in a report a few weeks ago that Azerbaijan's actions can be classified as genocide under Article 2 c) of the Genocide convention.

And this is no exaggeration. Azerbaijani officials at the highest levels openly advocate for ethnic cleansing and have normalized hatred against ethnic Armenians.

Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev has called ethnic Armenians "barbarians and vandals" who are infected by a "virus" for which they "need to be treated," and he has flaunted his territorial aspirations: "Present-day Armenia is our land...Now that the Karabakh conflict has been resolved, this is the issue on our agenda." Other officials have referred to Armenia as a "cancerous tumor" and Armenians as a "disease," calling for "complete elimination of Armenians."

His government celebrated this genocidal sentiment in a commemorative stamp it issued following the 2020 war depicting a man in a biohazard suit fumigating the area of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The warning signs of ethnic cleansing are crystal clear. The question now becomes: Will the world respond, or will Armenians face another genocide alone?

Thomas Becker is the legal and policy director at the University Network for Human Rights. He teaches human rights at Columbia Law School and Wesleyan University.

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

https://www.newsweek.com/armenians-face-second-genocide-will-world-intervene-opinion-1823767

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

EU’s Josep Borrell calls on Azerbaijan to ensure freedom of movement along Lachin Corridor

19:58, 31 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has called on Azerbaijan to ensure freedom and safety of movement along Lachin Corridor.

The humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh caused by the Azeri blockade was discussed, among other issues, during the EU foreign ministerial meeting in Spain.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Borrell called on Baku to open the road.

“We call on the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure safe and free movement along Lachin Corridor,” he said.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1118504.html?fbclid=IwAR3dlXcztEOWPMPhr-9dzB1z3o8HHSp_udiTwqKJr1r0NA45CMwJEkKA4KQ

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Congressman Pallone slams Aliyev for deepening ethnic cleansing campaign against Armenians

11:28, 2 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. United States Congressman Frank Pallone has accused Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev of deepening his campaign of ethnic cleansing against Armenians.

“The deadly attacks by Azeri forces today & the brutalization of innocent Armenian students earlier this week are further proof that Aliyev is using the Lachin blockade to intimidate & target Armenians in Artsakh. He is deepening his campaign of ethnic cleansing against Armenians,” Pallone said in a post on X.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1118618.html?fbclid=IwAR0pw4GnE-MzyckDrQpkp0m4lpD3uZ19_hs0e8ZBEt-luZuu9uimkQnbppo

[Yervant1]

The Brunswick News

Sept 1 2023

Commentary: Armenians are starving at Azerbaijan’s hands. Why isn’t Biden doing more to help?

• Stephan Pechdimaldji, Los Angeles Times
  

Last year on World Food Day, President Joe Biden reaffirmed his commitment to a world where “no child has to go to bed hungry, no parent has to worry about how to feed their family, and no one has to face food insecurity.” In that same speech, Biden highlighted how the United States had that year alone committed more than $9 billion in lifesaving humanitarian assistance to vulnerable communities around the world.

Sadly, Biden’s pledge is not reaching the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, who have been locked in a conflict over their homeland with Azerbaijan since the fall of the Soviet Union.

In this latest chapter, since last December the government of Azerbaijan, under the leadership of its petro-dictator Ilham Aliyev, has implemented an illegal blockade of the only road linking more than 120,000 Armenians, including 30,000 children, in Nagorno-Karabakh to the outside world. It is one of the world’s most overlooked and underreported humanitarian crises taking place today.

By limiting access to food, medicine, gas, electricity and other critical supplies to be delivered by the Lachin Corridor, Azerbaijan is on its way to making living conditions so unbearable that Armenians are forced to leave the region.

In August, a 40-year-old resident of Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, died of starvation, becoming the region’s first reported victim of chronic malnutrition and protein deficiency. The lack of food has also contributed to the number of early-stage miscarriages, which reportedly have nearly tripled this summer.

Using food as a weapon has become a popular tool for autocrats to disrupt the lives of innocent people while trying to force concessions that benefit their interests. Russia’s Vladimir Putin has effectively held the global food supply hostage by attacking Ukraine’s ports and crippling grain exports via the Black Sea, as together the two countries export 30% of the world’s wheat, 60% of the world’s sunflower oil and 20% of the world’s corn.

Azerbaijan is turning to a similar playbook in trying to force its will on the Armenian people by attempting to break their spirit and resolve through food. Biden has steadfastly held Russia accountable for its egregious behavior, and the State Department has been working with European Union officials to attempt to reopen the Lachin Corridor. But those efforts have so far failed.

The lack of leadership from the White House has led other actors on the world stage to fill that void. In August, Luis Moreno Ocampo, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, released an explosive report stating that when assessing the Azerbaijani blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, “there is a reasonable basis to believe that a genocide is being committed.” And, the report states, “Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.”

Having been victims of genocide in the 20th century, Armenians know all too well the horrors of such crimes against humanity and feel their voices and concerns are once again being ignored and sacrificed at the altar of realpolitik.

That type of international gamesmanship was evident at the United Nations last month when the Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation after Armenia urged the global community to help end the blockade. While France and other countries used the opportunity to highlight the principles of international law and humanitarianism as reasons to lift the blockade, other delegations — such as Great Britain, which has significant oil investments in the country — held back on condemning Azerbaijan.

And despite the evidence on the ground, Azerbaijan’s U.N. representative claimed that Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh were happy and well-fed by sharing printouts of Instagram posts that allegedly showed Armenians getting married and celebrating birthdays.

For Biden, as a president who took office claiming that human rights would be central to his foreign policy, this tragedy threatens to stain his legacy.

So, what can he do? For starters, he can begin by unequivocally calling for an immediate end to the blockade and apply pressure on Azerbaijan through sanctions, as Rep. Adam B. Schiff has called for. He can enforce Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act that bans U.S. aid to the Azerbaijani government — restrictions that he, like presidents before him, has waived each year since becoming president. And he can direct Samantha Power, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, to allocate more resources and money toward helping Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The U.S. enabling of Azerbaijan’s authoritarianism is now costing lives and giving Azerbaijan cover to do what it wants with impunity. Time is running out for the Armenian people living in Nagorno-Karabakh. If Biden truly believes that no child should go to sleep hungry, then he’ll need to act with far greater urgency to break Azerbaijan’s blockade.

____

ABOUT THE WRITER

Stephan Pechdimaldji is a communications strategist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a first-generation Armenian American and grandson of survivors of the Armenian genocide.

https://thebrunswicknews.com/news/world_news/commentary-armenians-are-starving-at-azerbaijan-s-hands-why-isn-t-biden-doing-more-to/article_87b0880e-1d3f-5e4a-88ee-ddf740a970f9.html

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Demonstration condemning Azeri actions against Nagorno-Karabakh held in Buenos Aires

13:43, 4 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. A demonstration was held on September 2 in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and the ongoing genocide against Armenians committed by the Azerbaijani regime, Diario Armenia outlet reported.

The demonstration took place on the 32nd anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

The demonstrators condemned the actions of the Azerbaijani government and called for the reopening of the Lachin Corridor.

“We demand the whole world to raise its voice because what’s happening in Artsakh is a gross violation of human rights and an act of genocide,” said Miguel Harutyunyan, the president of the association of Armenian expats in Argentina. He recalled that the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo has also described the Azerbaijani actions as genocide.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1118711.html?fbclid=IwAR3VWi7pJY3mG9CXVtOm4kngUi0Kuya-g78pyIouPSDnVpKPTeoiw_lgioQ

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Demonstrators in Amsterdam call for sanctions against Aliyev regime for genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh

16:30, 4 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Dutch politicians, academics, students and many others joined the Armenian community of the Netherlands on September 2 in a demonstration demanding international action to bring an end to the Azerbaijani genocidal actions led by the Aliyev regime against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The demonstrators called for international sanctions against Azerbaijan.

Journalist Sonja Dahlmans was among participants.

In a post on X, she said she was honored to participate in the protest demanding an end to the blockade of Lachin Corridor. She said that the Azeri actions constitute genocide.

Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022. The Azerbaijani blockade constitutes a gross violation of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, which established that the 5km-wide Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Furthermore, on February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since. The ICJ reaffirmed its order on 6 July 2023.

Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor. The blockade has led to shortages of essential products such as food and medication. Azerbaijan has also cut off gas and power supply into Nagorno Karabakh, with officials warning that Baku seeks to commit ethnic cleansing against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hospitals have suspended normal operations.

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1118738.html?fbclid=IwAR1rv-EUcG6k_H91TSEAqEP1bOi8SGFlDpvfZvfJ3OdKt748iiLlxP8Ea8w

[Yervant1]

500 Immoral European Rabbis

Sell Their Souls to the Azeri Devil

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

 

Last month, I wrote about two groups of ‘Righteous Jews’ who urged the government of Israel to intervene with Azerbaijan to open the Lachin Corridor.

The first group of 17 Israelis, including Rabbis, journalists and scholars, sent a letter to the Foreign Minister of Israel on January 15, 2023. The second group of 35 Israelis, including Rabbis, scholars, journalists, a former Cabinet Minister and Knesset Member, architects and scientists, sent a letter to the President of Israel.

Contrast the righteous actions of the above two Israeli groups to the immoral behavior of 500 European Rabbis who are planning to hold a conference in Azerbaijan in November at the invitation of Pres. Ilham Aliyev, the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported. The visit is organized by the Orthodox rabbinical alliance in Europe that unites more than 700 religious leaders from communities across Europe.

“Azerbaijan is a place with a special memory for the Jewish people, and is home to one of the most unique Jewish communities in the world,” said Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis who met with Aliyev earlier this year.

Rabbi Goldschmidt’s words were followed by the ridiculous statement of Elchin Amirbayov, the representative of Pres. Aliyev: “The fact that this European rabbinical conference will be held here in Baku is recognition of people feeling safe here; it is just the right place.” Equally ridiculous was the statement of Rabbi Zamir Isayev of Baku, who told JNS that Azerbaijan “is much safer than any country in Europe.” These Rabbis must have forgotten that just two months ago a terrorist group plotted to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Baku.

JNS reported that “the planned trip comes amid burgeoning relations between Israel and Azerbaijan that developed from a centuries-long affinity between the two nations into an unprecedented strategic partnership.” How could relations between Israel and Azerbaijan have a “centuries-long affinity” since Azerbaijan became a state only in 1918 and Israel in 1948?

In fact, relations between the two countries are not based on ‘affinity’ at all, but on Azerbaijan supplying almost half of Israel’s energy needs, while Israel sells to Azerbaijan over $5 billion of arms — 70% of its sophisticated weapons, including illegal cluster bombs — which Baku used during the 2020 War to kill and injure thousands of Armenian soldiers.

Rushing to gloat over the pending arrival of European Rabbis in Baku, Aze.Media published an article under the title: “A rabbinical conference in Muslim Azerbaijan,” reporting that “the Azerbaijani nation prides itself on having a rich multi-culturalism policy, which gives equal respect to all faiths and religions living in Azerbaijan.” This is a complete lie as all minorities in Azerbaijan suffer from discrimination and massive violation of human rights. Native Azeris themselves are victims of prosecution by Azerbaijan’s government in case they say anything critical about Pres. Aliyev.

Azerbaijan’s love affair for Israel and Jews has a much more sinister agenda than the simple exchange of oil for weapons. It is prompted by Azerbaijan’s anti-Semitism under the false belief that “Jews control everything in America,” and if Azerbaijan is nice to Jews, then they will influence the United States to have a pro-Azerbaijani stance. This is Baku’s obvious plan to counter the Armenian ‘lobby’ in the United States.

While Turkey and Azerbaijan woo American Jews and Israel hoping to benefit from their lobbying in the United States, it is unwise of Israel and Jews to go along and reinforce the anti-Semitic attitude of Azeri officials. The group of immoral European Rabbis is under the mistaken impression that Azeris welcome them with open arms because of their love for Jews. These Rabbis do not realize that they are simply allowing themselves to be exploited by Azerbaijan for its perceived political gains.

Even though Israel opened its Embassy in Baku in 1993, Azerbaijan established its Embassy in Tel Aviv in 2023, only after announcing the opening of its representative office in Ramallah, West Bank, the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority, to counter the backlash from many Muslims within Azerbaijan and around the world.

French historian Marc Knobel wrote an indignant article in Le Point French newspaper on August 8, harshly criticizing the European Rabbis’ planned trip to Baku. Knobel wrote: “Gentlemen Rabbis, I am ashamed and I am Jewish.” Importantly, he reported that Haim Korsia, the Chief Rabbi of France, will not accompany the other Rabbis to Azerbaijan “to flatter the dictator of Baku and will not allow himself to be bribed by such a regime.”

The 500 immoral European Rabbis, instead of siding with the starving 120,000 Artsakh Armenians, are selling their souls to the devil in Baku.

[Yervant1]

Sept 5 2023

Armenian Enclave in Azerbaijan on the Brink of Starvation

The humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan, has reached a critical point after a prolonged blockade of over eight months. Food and medical supplies have become severely limited, with daily bread rationed to one loaf per family and essential medicines depleted. The blockade is the harshest strategy yet from the Azerbaijani government in its effort to reclaim control over Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as Azerbaijani but largely populated by Armenians and controlled by them since the late 1980s.

Azerbaijan’s strategic encirclement of the region has left Armenia’s Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, open to acknowledging Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh. However, he hopes to secure assurances for the rights and safety of the ethnic Armenian inhabitants. Azerbaijan, eager to expedite diplomatic proceedings, has intensified the blockade, further straining the Armenian people it purports to welcome back.

Azerbaijani government-supported protesters initiated the blockade of the only access route, known as the “Lachin corridor,” in December, hampering civilian movement and the import of essentials. Although some supplies managed to get through, the situation worsened in April when Azerbaijan established an official border checkpoint and halted traffic in June.

While Azerbaijan proposed opening its own supply route, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh view this as a ploy for Azerbaijani control and have created their own blockade on the new road. International efforts, led by the European Union, are underway to find a compromise, but the two governments disagree on the sequence of opening the roads.

The situation inside Nagorno-Karabakh remains unclear due to limited independent information. However, there are indications of a bitter power struggle among ethnic Armenian leaders. Meanwhile, border clashes continue, with three Armenian soldiers reportedly killed in early September. The prospect of peaceful cohabitation between the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan seems increasingly unlikely.

https://gvwire.com/2023/09/05/armenian-enclave-in-azerbaijan-on-the-brink-of-starvation/

[Yervant1]

iNews, UK

Sept 5 2023

Armenian families starve under Azerbaijan’s ‘genocidal’ blockade in Nagorno-Karabakh
ANALYSIS

Armenians are being starved to death as Moscow’s security guarantees prove worthless, Neil Hauer reports from Yerevan
Activists protest in front of the UN office in the Armenian capital Yerevan on 16 August over Azerbaijan’s blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh (Photo: AFP via Getty)

By Neil Hauer

While the world’s attention is focused on Ukraine, another humanitarian crisis on the edge of Europe is unfolding due to an oil-rich dictatorship: the starvation of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan.

It is here, in this enclave of 120,000 ethnic Armenians, that one of the worst crises in the wider European neighbourhood is taking place. Under siege for more than eight months, the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh has now been reduced to starvation rations – for most families, just a piece of bread a day – as Azerbaijan seeks to force the population into submission.

Nestled in the South Caucasus, the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been the subject of conflict for more than 30 years. As the Soviet Union collapsed, the overwhelmingly ethnic Armenian population’s demand for unification with neighbouring Armenia was met with pogroms and eventually war by Azerbaijan.

While Armenia triumphed in the first war in the early 1990s, Azerbaijan returned in 2020, winning a victory that gave it control of much of the land Armenians had held. The remainder of Karabakh has since led a tenuous existence, connected to Armenia and the outside world by just a single road, the Lachin corridor, ostensibly protected and guaranteed by Russian peacekeepers.

Last December, Azerbaijan put an end to that. Government-organised protesters deployed on the Lachin road, blocking all traffic except for a handful of Red Cross vehicles with humanitarian aid. On 15 June, Azerbaijan cut even that, closing the road entirely via their newly established checkpoint. Since then, not a single shipment of food or medicine has entered Nagorno-Karabakh.

The situation has now become critical. Deaths from starvation have been recorded – the region’s health ministry announced that one-third of all deaths in the territory are the result of malnutrition owing to the blockade. With no fuel available, the meagre crops available can rarely be transported to the capital Stepanakert or the other population centres, not that they can easily be harvested: Azerbaijani soldiers regularly fire at Karabakh Armenian farmers in their fields.

International organisations and actors have long been in agreement that the present crisis is entirely of Azerbaijan’s making. In February, the International Court of Justice issued a ruling demanding that Azerbaijan open the road and restore the free movement of people and goods along the road. The US, EU, Canada and others have regularly urged Azerbaijan to open the road and lift the blockade. Baku remains obstinate, not only ignoring the demands but insisting, farcically, that the road is open, there is no starvation in Karabakh, and that one international statement after another is simply the result of “pro-Armenian corruption”.

More and more observers are now going further, declaring that the actions of Azerbaijan, directed by President Ilham Aliyev, constitute genocide. In August, Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, stated in a report that there is “reasonable basis to believe that genocide is being committed against Armenians” in Nagorno-Karabakh. “There are no crematories and there are no machete attacks…starvation is the invisible genocide weapon,” Mr Ocampo wrote. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention similarly called the blockade “genocidal in its intent, which is to eliminate the Armenian population of Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh]”.

One actor conspicuous in its inaction across the entirety of this drama is Russia. Moscow was the third signatory to the November 2020 deal that ended the Second Karabakh War. While its 2,000 peacekeepers were tasked with maintaining the peace and keeping control of the Lachin road, they have stood idly by as Azerbaijani troops enact their blockade. Sapped and distracted by its increasingly difficult war in Ukraine, Russia has lost almost all influence in a region it had long been the most powerful actor in.

In this environment, there are also few hopes for any peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two sides have met regularly for US- and EU-brokered intensive talks over the past year, with mediators from Washington and Brussels regularly expressing confidence in the progress and stating that peace is within reach. Yet far from any conciliatory measures, Azerbaijan has only tightened its blockade of Karabakh Armenians in this period, bringing them closer to their physical destruction.

Most glaring is the fact that Azerbaijan has already openly ignored the terms of the ceasefire it signed with Armenia not even three years ago, by which it agreed to ensure the free usage of the Lachin corridor. If Baku so openly breaks its word here, what will stop it from simply doing the same in another treaty?

It is clear that the present situation cannot continue for long. The population of Karabakh continues to grow weaker; as winter approaches, their chances of surviving it under current conditions seem negligible. International pressure is growing sharply on Azerbaijan to lift the blockade, but it is similarly evident that only tangible actions, not mere words, by the international community can possibly compel Baku to halt its genocidal path. One way or another, the fate of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will soon become clear.

https://inews.co.uk/news/world/armenia-families-starve-azerbaijan-genocidal-blockade-nagorno-karabakh-2593573

[Yervant1]

ProtoThema News, Greece

Sept 5 2023

Starvation: “The Invisible Genocide Weapon” – Azerbaijan is committing genocide against the 120,000 Armenians

Author: Newsroom | Published: September 5, 2023

Historically known as Artsakh, this ancient Armenian region was brought under Azerbaijani rule in 2020

The thousand-year-old genocide of Armenians at the hands of Turkic peoples has reached a new level.

Several watchdog organizations — including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Genocide Watch, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention — are accusing Azerbaijan of committing genocide against the 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh. Historically known as Artsakh, this ancient Armenian region was brought under Azerbaijani rule in 2020.

Modern day hostilities between Armenia, an ancient nation and the first to adopt Christianity, and Azerbaijan, a Muslim nation that was created in 1918, began in September 2020, when Azerbaijan launched a war to capture Artsakh. Although it had been Armenian for more than 2,000 years and its population still remains 90% Armenian, after the dissolution of the USSR, the “border makers” granted it to the Republic of Azerbaijan, hence the constant warring over this region.

Once the September 2020 war began, Turkey quickly joined its Azerbaijani co-religionists against Armenia, even though the dispute did not concern it. It dispatched sharia-enforcing “jihadist groups” from Syria and Libya — including the pro-Muslim Brotherhood Hamza Division, which once kept naked women chained and imprisoned — to terrorize and slaughter Armenians.

Continue here: Gatestone Institute

https://en.protothema.gr/starvation-the-invisible-genocide-weapon-azerbaijan-is-committing-genocide-against-the-120000-armenians/