Statue of a Dictator (Aliyev Clan)

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PanARMENIAN

Armenia - June 7 2022

Bishop: Azerbaijan seeks to replace Dadivank's Armenian clerics with Russians

June 7, 2022 - 16:11 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan wants to achieve the withdrawal of the Armenian clergy from Dadivank Monastery and their replacement by the clergy of the Russian Diocese of Baku, Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan, Primate of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, has told NEWS.am.

"I believe this information is completely in line with Azerbaijan's policy pursued today. They do everything to bring what they want to fruition and remove our clergymen from Dadivank. They saw that they could not achieve anything with the visits of the Udis, and [therefore] they resorted to this option," Bishop Vrtans said Tuesday, June 7.

"Besides the fact that they will remove the Armenian clergy, they will also say that there is no need for Russian peacekeepers [in Artsakh] anymore. I am sure that the Russian Orthodox Church will not give way to that move."

The Primate of the Artsakh Diocese added that intensive negotiations are underway to resume the entry of Armenian pilgrims to Dadivank.

Concerns about the preservation of cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh are made all the more urgent by the Azerbaijani government’s history of systemically destroying indigenous Armenian heritage—acts of both warfare and historical revisionism. The Azerbaijani government has secretly destroyed a striking number of cultural and religious artifacts in the late 20th century. Within Nakhichevan alone, a historically Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani forces destroyed at least 89 medieval churches, 5,840 khachkars (Armenian cross stones) and 22,000 historical tombstones between 1997 and 2006.
https://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/300761/Bishop_Azerbaijan_seeks_to_replace_Dadivanks_Armenian_clerics_with_Russians

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ARMINFO

Armenia - June 16 2022

Marianna Mkrtchyan Jean-Christophe Buisson criticizes UNESCO for its inaction against destruction of Armenian cemeteries by Azerbaijanis in occupied territories of Artsakh.

ArmInfo. Deputy director of the authoritative French Le Figaro magazine, journalist Jean-Christophe Buisson criticized UNESCO for its inaction against the backdrop of the destruction of the Armenian cemetery by the Azerbaijanis in the occupied territories of Artsakh.

"Hello UNESCO! Can you solemnly ask the Baku authorities why the Armenian cemetery in the village of Hin Shen of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) occupied by Azerbaijan since November 2020 has disappeared? If not, what are you doing?" Buisson wrote on his microblog on Twitter. It should be noted that despite the trilateral agreements at the level of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia dated November 9, 2020, so far the UNESCO mission has not been able to visit the region. Azerbaijan is torpedoing the visit in every possible way, while at the same time erasing the traces of the Armenian presence in the territories of Artsakh seized as a result of the war. Back on November 20, 2020, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay announced the readiness of the organization to send a mission to Karabakh to help restore the cultural and historical heritage of the region. And already in December of the same year, Deputy Director General of UNESCO Ernesto Ottone noted that the organization "so far is only waiting for Azerbaijan's response so that UNESCO can continue to work with sending a mission to the field." In turn, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, in a communique issued on December 22, 2020, called on UNESCO not to politicize the issue of protecting cultural heritage in Karabakh and stated that Baku "is open to a constructive dialogue to discuss the details of organizing the mission." The Russian Foreign Ministry has also repeatedly stated that Moscow expects a UNESCO mission to visit Nagorno-Karabakh in the near future.

https://arminfo.info/full_news.php?id=70063&lang=3

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June 28 2022

Farmland in Karabakh being given to powerful Azerbaijanis - report A new investigation has found that agricultural firms connected to powerful people, including the first family, were given non-transparent contracts to develop land in Karabakh.Heydar Isayev Jun 28, 2022

Agricultural land in the territories Azerbaijan retook in the 2020 war with Armenia are being developed by companies connected to top government officials, a new investigation has found.

Abzas Media, an independent news outlet, on June 23 published a report detailing which companies have gotten government contracts to farm land in Karabakh. Many of the companies, several of them little-known, are connected to high-ranking officials, including the daughters of President Ilham Aliyev.

Abzas reported that the state Agency for Development of Small and Medium Businesses (KOBIA, in its Azerbaijani acronym) presented, at an October 2021 exhibition called “Rebuild Karabakh,” a short list of companies that had been awarded government deals to carry out agricultural work in various parts of Karabakh.

According to the agency’s figures, which hadn’t been publicly shared elsewhere, a total of 8,376.5 hectares of land had been leased in 2021 to five companies: Agroinkishaf-2017, Agro Fresh, Agro Diary, Azersun, and Kraun Ko.

It’s “no coincidence that these companies popped up in liberated lands in Karabakh,” Abzas said, given the close connections many of them have with the government.

While it wasn’t clear how those 8,000-plus hectares were allocated, KOBIA did identify a small number of specific, separate deals. Azersun, a giant Azerbaijani food monopoly, was awarded 9,000 square meters of land in the Gubadli district, in a project valued at 40 million manats [$23.5 million]. Azersun is owned by Turkish businessman Abdolbari Gozal, who is known to be close to the ruling family.

Agro Dairy was awarded a project worth 851,000 manats [$500,000] on 5.2 hectares in the Aghdam and Fuzuli districts. The company belongs to ***** Holding, owned by members of the powerful *****yev family of Aliyev’s wife, Mehriban Aliyeva.

Aliyev has mentioned the role of Azersun and Agro Dairy in Karabakh. In a visit to the Hajigabul district in April 2021, where he was visiting an “agropark,” a large-scale, state-backed agribusiness venture, Aliyev met the director of Agro Diary. Aliyev said that he had “recommended both those managing Agro Diary and Azersun to build agroparks in the liberated lands of Karabakh.”

A previous investigation by the independent news agency Turan found that the majority of the new agroparks established in Karabakh were connected to figures close to the government.

Kraun Ko-R was given a project worth 20 million manats [$12 million], on 2.3 hectares in the Zangilan district, Abzas reported, citing the KOBIA presentation. Kraun Ko-R’s ownership significantly overlaps with those of companies belonging to the family of Ali Naghiyev, the chief of the State Security Service, the Abzas investigation found. And its legal address happens to be the same as those of companies belonging to Baylar Ayyubov, the chief of the presidential security service.

And that is likely the tip of the iceberg, as the KOBIA presentation did not appear to cover all new government contracts for agricultural work in Karabakh. Kraun Ko-R’s director, Sabuhi Abdullayev, has said that his company planted wheat on 24,000 hectares in Gubadli, Zangilan, and Jabrayil districts in 2021 alone. “We plan to expand the land on which we are farming as soon as more territories are cleared of landmines,” he told Public Television.

Since the end of the war, Azerbaijan has undertaken a massive reconstruction campaign in the territories it retook, which were left largely destroyed after 30 years of Armenian occupation. The work so far has consisted mainly of landmine clearance, building infrastructure like airports and roads, and setting up several new, heavily promoted “smart villages” in the Zangilan district. The reconstruction work has focused heavily on the city of Shusha, which has been formally designated as Azerbaijan’s “cultural capital.”

The government hasn’t provided specific information on when the more than 600,000 Azerbaijanis displaced from those territories in the first war between the two sides in the 1990s might be able to return to live. But it appears to be moving ahead with allowing big businesses to start farming work there.

In a February speech, President Aliyev briefly touched upon the agricultural work being undertaken in Karabakh. “Various agricultural projects are now being implemented in the liberated areas. I can say that a sowing campaign is planned on 40,000-50,000 hectares this year. This will contribute to our food security,” he said.

According to an April 2021 presidential order, the Ministry of Agriculture “is temporarily entrusted with the implementation” of new agricultural work “in the the liberated territories of Azerbaijan,” including “leasing of agricultural lands for production and processing of agricultural products” and “exercising control over the use of leased lands.”

The Ministry of Agriculture did not respond to Abzas’s inquiry about to whom land in Karabakh had been leased and on which criteria they were selected.

Heydar Isayev is a journalist from Baku.

https://eurasianet.org/farmland-in-karabakh-being-given-to-powerful-azerbaijanis-report

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PanARMENIAN

Armenia - July 29 2022

Azerbaijanis destroy another Armenian cemetery in Karabakh

July 29, 2022 - 14:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijanis have razed to the ground another Armenian cemetery in the occupied territories of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

Footage depicting the act of vandalism committed by Azerbaijanis has been shared on Telegram channels.

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, has been hindering the deployment of a UNESCO mission that would document the cultural and historical heritage of the region and prevent the destruction of significant monuments.

Since the end of hostilities in the fall of 2020, dozens of Armenian cemeteries, churches, monuments and memorials have been destroyed by the Azerbaijani military.
https://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/301800/Azerbaijanis_destroy_another_Armenian_cemetery_in_Karabakh

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Public Radio of Armenia

Aug 5 2022

Protesters storm Azerbaijani Embassy in London and take down flag

August 5, 2022, 00:12

1 minute read

Eight men have been arrested after a group of protesters stormed the Azerbaijani embassy in London, Metro reports.

Footage on social media showed men waving flags from the balcony of the country’s base in Kensington.

Slogans in Arabic were daubed on the wall and the Azerbaijani flag was taken down.

It’s unclear what sparked the protest but it was led by a group called The Mahdi Servants Union.

It is a Shia Muslim organization based in London which says it wants to establish ‘civilizational dominance’ on its website.

Members linked to the group have cited ‘persecution’ by the Azerbaijani government of some Shia Muslims in the country.

In a statement, the group said it had been directed by their leader ‘to take urgent action’ against Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev.

Leader of the group Yasser Al-Habib, who was granted asylum in the UK after coming into conflict with the authorities in his native Kuwait, runs a mosque in Buckinghamshire.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2022/08/05/intruders-storm-balcony-of-azerbaijan-embassy-in-london-and-take-down-flag/

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Public Radio of Armenia

Aug 5 2022

Azerbaijani MPs make confessions about ethnic cleansing policy in Artsakh, Armenia’s Ombudsperson reveals

August 5, 2022, 17:36

1 minute read

Azerbaijani MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev made a confession about the Azerbaijani state policy aimed at the ethnic cleansing of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian Human Rights Defender Kristinne Grigoryan reveals.

In particular, the lawmaker stated that “Armenia should put an end to its territorial ambitions towards Azerbaijan and stop supporting the bloody separatism of Karabakh. Unless this is done, we should not recognize their (the population of Nagorno-Karabakh) right to life in peace.” Subsequently, the MP stated that in the current situation it is not possible for Armenians to live in Azerbaijan.

Another deputy, Fazil Mustafaev, echoing his colleague, also directly threatened the physical existence of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“In reality, there are a number of examples and proofs of the Azerbaijani policy of ethnic hatred and ethnic cleansing of Armenians, however, it is striking that high-level officials representing the Azerbaijani leadership are making these statements amid provocations carried out by their armed forces in recent days, as a result of which two Armenian servicemen were killed and 19 others were injured,” the Ombudswoman said.

“It is a fact the right to life of the peaceful population of Nagorno-Karabakh is not guaranteed, and the Azerbaijani officials are directly confirming that,” she said.

The Ombudsperson has shared this information with foreign colleagues, as well as with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which in the coming days will review Azerbaijan’s periodic report on the implementation of the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2022/08/05/azerbaijani-mps-make-confessions-about-ethnic-cleansing-policy-in-arsakh-armenias-ombudsperson-reveals/

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Aug 10 2022

Poor challenge from Aliyev! He met with Turkish-Cypriot occupation leader in Turkey
by ATHENS BUREAU

The leader of the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus, Ersin Tatar, met with the genocidal dictator of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in Ikónion (Ἰκόνιον, Turkish: Konya), Turkey.

According to the Turkish-Cypriot leader’s written statement, Tatar traveled to Ikónion to attend the Opening Ceremony of the 5th Islamic Solidarity at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Tatar had a meeting with Aliyev, which lasted about 40 minutes. During the meeting, Tatar informed Aliyev about Cyprus and said that they follow a harmonious policy with Turkey.

Noting that the meeting took place in a very frank atmosphere, Tatar emphasised that assessments were made on the development of mutual relations between the two countries.

Simply put, the dictator, murderous and corrupt Aliyev, legitimised the pseudo-state.

Time for Greece to finally sanction this murderer, who has seared Western consciences by handing out at least three billion dollars in bribes to Western politicians and officials, according to News Break.

https://greekcitytimes.com/2022/08/10/poor-challenge-from-aliyev-turkey/

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Armenpress.com

Greek City Times: Attacks against Azerbaijani journalists continue unabated in 2022

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12:44, 12 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 12, ARMENPRESS. The Greek City Times newspaper published an article about the attacks on journalists in Azerbaijan.

“Although Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the IGB natural gas pipeline, which connects the national natural gas transmission system of Greece with the Bulgarian network and will be able to transport billions of cubic metres of gas per year from Azerbaijan, as a “pipeline of values”, even if we ignore the continued ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians, how true is the Greek leaders statement?” asks the author in the Attacks against Azerbaijani journalists continue unabated in 2022 article.

“If we look towards the media sphere, as one example, there is a lack of these values that Mitsotakis talks about.

The very first thing the Azerbaijan page of Reporters Without Borders says is: “President Ilham Aliyev has wiped out any semblance of pluralism, and since 2014, he has sought ruthlessly to silence any remaining critics.”

“No independent television or radio is transmitted from within the country, and all print newspapers with a critical stance have been shut down. Most independent news sites, such as Azadliq and Meydan TV, targeted by state censorship, are based abroad.”

It also explains that no official or police officer in the past 20 years has been sanctioned for hitting or insulting a journalists and that “the Baku regime tries to tame independent journalists in exile by pressuring their friends and family who remain in the country.”

Even more alarmingly though is that the Aliyev regime exports its targeting of journalists outside of Azerbaijan’s own borders.

On May 31, Azerbaijani blogger Tural Sadigly, who lives in Germany but is currently staying in the UK, stated that a conspiracy was being prepared against him by the Azerbaijani authorities.

“I assure you that my life is in serious danger. This time they are planning something against me. The instruction was given by the presidential administration.

For this reason, my parents will hold a protest in front of the presidential administration building in Baku tomorrow. I ask political parties, human rights activists, activists, journalists, everyone – to support them”, Sadigly wrote on his Facebook page.

A little later, an Azerbaijani journalist, former political prisoner Afgan Mukhtarli, who lives in Germany, confirmed the threat to the life of the blogger on his social media.

“Azerbaijani migrant and blogger living in Germany, head of the Azad söz (Free Speech) YouTube channel Tural Sadigly wrote about the serious danger to his life.

The Aliyev regime repeatedly arrested, kidnapped and blackmailed its opponents residing abroad. Ilham Aliyev used terrorist groups more than once against those whom he could not arrest.

Last year, among the oppositionists living abroad, Bayram Mammadov was killed in Istanbul, Vugar Rza in Belgium, Huseyn Bakikhanov in Tbilisi.

Attempts were made to kill Magomed Mirzali, Orkhan Agayev, Ordukhan Babirov, Gabil Mamedov.

French police arrested several individuals for an attempted murder of Magomed Mirzali.

The threat of murder against Tural Sadigly, the search for his address are quite serious. European law enforcement agencies must ensure the safety of Tural Bey”, Mukhtarli said.

Another Azerbaijani opposition blogger was attacked in Europe. This time the victim of the attack was blogger Manaf Jalilzade, who is known for his criticism of Mehriban and Ilham Aliyev, according to Infoteka24.

“Blogger Manaf Jalilzade, who lives in Switzerland, was brutally beaten by three Azerbaijanis in front of his house on April 29, 2022 at 23:00. His condition is very critical,” another French-based opposition blogger, Mirzali Muhammad, tweeted.

These are just a few examples in 2022, but cases can be brought up in every year of Azerbaijan’s post-Soviet era.

Take some of these examples:

1. An Azerbaijani journalist and political activist Afgan Mukhtarli was kidnapped in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi on May 29, 2017, and then illegally brought across the border to Azerbaijan
2. In March 2018, in Germany, by the order of the Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Azerbaijan Adyl Aliyev, Rauf Babayev was beaten after his speech at an event.
3. In December of 2018 in the center of Strasbourg the attack on Ganimat Zaidov: an unknown person hit him in the back and took away his mobile phone.
4. In November of 2019 the attack on Muhammad Mirzali in France: he was shot 4 times, one cartridge hit his arm, the rest into the car.
5. In January of 2020, on the same day, there was an attempt on the life of Sevinj Mirzoyeva in the USA (fastening bolts were removed from the front wheels of his car, it was purely by chance that he managed to avoid a car accident, the children of S. Mirzoyeva, were also in the car).
6. On 30th of December, 2020, the mysterious disappearance of Vugar Rza in Belgium, the body was found on the 18th of January, 2021 in a river.
7. In February 2021, Orkhan Agaev was beaten in the center of Berlin.
8. In March of 2021 attack on Muhammad Mirzali in the center of Nantes, 4 people were arrested, the rest of the gang members are wanted.
9. On 2nd of May 2021, Azerbaijani opposition activist Bayram Mammadov has been found dead in Istanbul in an apparent drowning
10. On July 14th 2021, Azerbaijani opposition blogger Huseyn Bakixanov, died on July 14 under unclear circumstances after apparently falling from a roof of a Tbilisi hotel.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1090168.html?fbclid=IwAR3FA-Q6SEiopnr21iCFkGwxigrokLFEb8J6Onxv26VGJyZNvvBfhDcS0dw

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Armenpress.com

Azerbaijani hackers attack Greek City Times after the latter published an article about Aliyev's regime

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20:37, 12 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 12, ARMENPRESS. The website of the Greek newspaper Greek City Times was attacked by Azerbaijani hackers for publishing an article about the repression of independent journalists in Azerbaijan, which did not please the authoritarian regime of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, ARMENPRESS reports Greek City Times journalist Paul Antonopoulos wrote on his Twitter.

Paul Antonopoulos tweeted that the Greek City Times was hacked for an hour by Azerbaijani hackers after publishing an article titled " Attacks against Azerbaijani journalists continue unabated in 2022."

"Dictator Aliyev, who controls the operations, is unhappy," wrote Antonopoulos.

Earlier, the Greek newspaper Greek City Times published an extensive article regarding repression of independent journalists in Azerbaijan. The journalist of Greek City Times presented the attacks on journalists in 2022 and their murders outside the borders of Azerbaijan.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1090211.html?fbclid=IwAR2kiMkYW5dkeEEAZegB5mfS4LWAiO0jKu_jik5KaygR8XbtSmP10An7O_k

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Armenpress.com

How could Jews have any status in Nazi Germany? Artsakh reiterates unacceptability of Azeri control

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11:33, 13 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 13, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Minister of Artsakh Davit Babayan reacted to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s recent remarks on Armenians living in Nagorno Karabakh.

Aliyev said on August 12 that “Armenians living in Karabakh will have no status, no independence and no special priviledges.”

“Well, what can be said here,” Babayan said in a statement. “There is no sense in going into details. I can only say the following. First of all I’d like to thank Aliyev for his sincerity. Indeed, neither Azerbaijan nor its leadership have never concealed their plans regarding Artsakh. Second, indeed Karabakh will not have anything as part of Azerbaijan because Karabakh itself will not exist. Besides, any status within Azerbaijan is unacceptable for Artsakh. How could the Jews have any kind of administrative-territorial status in Nazi Germany?” Babayan concluded in a statement on social media.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1090224.html?fbclid=IwAR28uy85xTRKSJ2YZksrw-uAWXsvl6Svj4lvqb9tPoRMqEp4lXHZOEuSpfM

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Armenpress.com

Azeri fake report debunked with facts at 26th ICOM General Conference in Prague

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16:28, 9 September 2022

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan attempted to push its falsifications at the 26^th ICOM (International Council of Museums) General Conference in Prague but was countered by fact-based debunking from the Armenian delegation.

“They are usually trying to use all platforms to present their false and ungrounded narratives,” ICOM Armenia President Hayk Mkrtchyan said. “They were accusing Armenians in destructions of mosques and so on. Having anticipated this, we had already discussed this with our colleagues at the foreign ministry in Armenia. We showed with facts that their report is fake. We presented the UNESCO national committee report on what has actually happened in Artsakh over the past two years. The report is based on research by prestigious international publications and organizations,” he said.

During the conference agreements were reached to host the seminars of at least 4 international committees in Armenia (literature and composer museums, exhibition exchange, musical instrument and musical museums, as well as staff training committees).

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1092072.html?fbclid=IwAR28nyOe7M8mPFp6lZMH3YK2bZn9Yiymj4jCLsc9L1uWCQLCKR49f1cInKc

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Armenpress.com

“Armenian lives matter” - Ukrainian singer Tina Karol expresses support to Armenia

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15:03, 19 September 2022

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Ukrainian singer Tina Karol has expressed her support to Armenia.

“Armenian Lives Matter”, the Ukrainian singer shared a photo on an Instagram story.

According to Azerbaijani reports, the singer cancelled her concert in Baku scheduled on November 15.

Earlier another Ukrainian singer Max Barskih has also cancelled his December 10th concert in Baku, stating that “any country that allows aggression against another country is not a place for my concerts”.

On September 13, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched a major attack on Armenia from several directions, bombarding both military and civilian infrastructures with rocket-artillery and drone strikes.

Azerbaijan halted its attack in the evening of September 14 after a ceasefire was reached following the involvement of the international community.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1092896.html?fbclid=IwAR0ctSUtQzwD1DW5WNVbwNv-_IbY6hpf5CSSq56Dru-uXatOVJ6dXaJUpYI

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eurasianet

Sept 20 2022

Smear campaign launched against Azerbaijani “traitors” Several activists and politicians have been branded “traitors” on government-linked social media after they expressed their opposition to Azerbaijan’s recent attacks against Armenia.Sep 20, 2022

Government-linked social media accounts have attacked anti-war voices in Azerbaijan with a campaign branding them as “traitors.”

After Azerbaijan’s unprecedented attack on targets inside Armenia starting on September 12, many opposition voices in Azerbaijan came out in opposition, questioning the morality and legality of the Azerbaijani offensive. It was a conspicuous shift from 2020, when the same figures supported the government’s campaign to take back much of the land in and around Nagorno-Karabakh it had lost to Armenia in the first war between the two sides in the 1990s.

While a ceasefire was agreed on September 14 and has for the most part held, government-linked social media did not stop their assaults.

On September 17, the youth wing of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) published a video compilation of various opposition bloggers and politicians who had expressed opposition to the new round of fighting. It included the hashtag “#xainləritanı” or “know the traitors.”

Those targeted in the video, most of whom live abroad, for the most part argued that Azerbaijani forces entered Armenia’s internationally recognized borders and that that was both immoral and strategically unwise.

“The Azerbaijani side openly acknowledges their intention to invade another country’s territory,” Germany-based journalist and former political prisoner Afghan Mukhtarli said in an interview that was excerpted in the YAP video. Azerbaijan “is crossing Armenia’s internationally recognized border and is crossing into a new war,” blogger Tural Sadigli, who also lives in Germany, said.

“Why do we have to fight on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border while there are separatists [in Nagorno-Karabakh], and move forward on to Armenia’s territory?” asked journalist Sevinj Osmangizi in the video. “What does it accomplish? What kind of logic is it?”

The “know the traitors” hashtag was taken up on Facebook and Twitter, with many of the users members of YAP or branches of the party, including some members of parliament.

One popular post featured images of many of the same people as in the compilation video, their photos stamped with the phrase “know the traitor.”

While the Azerbaijani government claims that the fighting was started by Armenia, which provoked the Azerbaijani attacks, they have provided no evidence for that claim. The level of skepticism for that narrative inside Azerbaijan is unprecedentedly high, and many dismissed or mocked the “traitor” campaign.

“Perhaps they are soon going to post these [images] on the street,” wrote political activist Rustam Ismayilbayli on his Facebook page. He compared the situation to the purges of the early Soviet Union. “1937 has passed in the calendar, but the 1937 spirit – the tradition of declaring opposing opinions as traitorous, spying, denunciations – still fully lives with us.”

On September 20, Ahmad Mammadli, chairman of small opposition group Demokratiya-1918, was detained by plainclothes police officers and his whereabouts are not known. Mammadli lately attracted attention for his anti-war posts on social media.

Azerbaijan President "Ilham Aliyev will definitely answer before international courts one day for the crimes he committed not only against the Azerbaijani people, but also against the Armenian people,” Mammadli wrote on Twitter. “The first task of democratic Azerbaijan will be to punish those who make nations hostile to each other." One user responded that he was going to report Mammadli to law enforcement.

Later in the afternoon of September 20, Mammadli was arrested for 30 days and charged with disobeying police orders, he reported in a video filmed by a fellow group member and posted to social media. "If I am a criminal for speaking about peace, I am proud of it," he says in the video.

This post was edited to add details of Mammadli's arrest.

https://eurasianet.org/smear-campaign-launched-against-azerbaijani-traitors

[Yervant1]

Sept 23 2022

Anti-War Sentiments on the Rise in Azerbaijan

The recent escalation caught many by surprise, emboldening voices among the political opposition.

Ahmad Mammadli had been a vocal critic of Azerbaijan’s authorities since his student years. It was a call for peace with neighbouring Armenia and condemnation of President lham Aliyev, however, which put the 21-year-old chair of the pro-democracy group Democracy-1918 (D18) on the police’s radar.

“Ilham Aliyev will definitely answer before the international courts one day for the crimes he committed not only against the Azerbaijani people, but also against the Armenian people,” Mammadil wrote on September 15, adding “The first task of democratic Azerbaijan will be to punish those who make nations hostile to each other.”

Five days later, on September 20, he was taken into custody on charges of resisting police.

While still rare, Mammadli’s outspoken stance is in line with an increasing number of public figures questioning Aliyev’s recent military decisions.

On September 12 fighting re-erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan, claiming the lives of more than 200 servicemen over two days. It was the deadliest outbreak of violence since the 2020 six-week war the two countries fought over Nagorny Karabakh, the region internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians since the mid-1990s. Back then, Azerbaijani society and nearly all political opposition supported the government’s decision to go to war to regain the control of the de facto statelet.

Fears of new fighting are gaining traction on social media as the Russia-brokered ceasefire is holding by a fine thread. For decades, Russia has been the security guarantor in the region but its role has faded as its fortunes reverse in Ukraine. This time Azerbaijani forces shelled inside Armenia, with troops remaining inside its sovereign territory, including on heights around the resort town of Jermuk.

Following the most recent spike in violence, Mammadli tweeted, “Those who have seen the horrors of war and lost their loved ones are against the current military conflicts, while the bloodthirsty ones behind the keyboard push people to their deaths. Understanding this seems to have become quite a difficult task for those in euphoria.”

Plain clothes police officers subsequently abducted the activist, who was sentenced to 30 days in jail on charges commonly used in Azerbaijan to silence critics. Speaking from a police van in a video filmed by a fellow D18 member, Mammadli said he was arrested because of his pro-peace posts.

“If I’m a criminal for speaking out about peace, I’m proud of it,” he said. He has since gone on hunger strike.

CALLS FOR PEACE

Support for the war against Armenia over Karabakh is strong and the loss of the region is an open wound in society, not least for about 869,000 Azerbaijani who were displaced as a result of the conflict.

Voices calling for peace are few and far between, and Mammadli’s arrest was cheered on social media.

“We are the only political organisation coming out and calling for peace. We knew these [reactions] would happen,” Afiaddin Mammadov, a board member of D18, told IWPR. “We are trying to shape a new society and making efforts for peacebuilding…The other people’s lack of support for us doesn't concern us. We will stand for our position, keep talking about peace…Our goal is to play a main role in building peace between the two nations in a democratic environment.”

The most recent escalation caught many by surprise, emboldening more voices among the political opposition.

Political youth organisation NIDA Citizen Movement stated that “ending the ethnic conflict that has been going on for more than 30 years and establishing lasting peace between peoples cannot be ensured through war and force. War serves no other purpose than to intensify mutual aggression, hatred and suffering, and to fuel enmity between nations”.

As casualties increased - Azerbaijan lost 80 servicemen over two days, with 281 injured - critical voices spoke out, questioning the government's legal and moral grounds for the fighting. Among them were the two main opposition parties, who supported Aliyev in the 2020 war.

“Now every Azerbaijani is thinking about this question, why did we lose so many?” Ali Karimli, leader of the Popular Front Party, wrote on Facebook. “Fifty people in just a few hours of battle with the ‘starving’ enemy? So many losses were made without gaining anything.”

Arif Hajili, chairman of the Musavat Party, posted, “What was the purpose of this? What is the result?”

Azerbaijanis living in exile added their voices to the criticism.

“Azerbaijan is stepping over Armenia’s internationally recognized border and is stepping into a new war,” said Tural Sadigli, the editor-in-chief of social media-based news outlet Azad Soz (Free Speech), who lives in Germany.

In a Youtube discussion with other anti-war activists, US-based journalist Sevinj Osmangizi asked,”

“Why do we have to fight on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border while there are separatists [in Nagorno-Karabakh], and move forward on to Armenia’s territory? What does it accomplish? What kind of logic is it?”

The increasing war fatigue was not directed to Karabakh however, which largely remains under Armenian control with 2,000 Russian peacekeepers deployed as part of the November 2020 ceasefire agreement.

Writer Samad Shikhi pointed out that “the incident is happening in the territory of Armenia, not ours? The world will call us invaders”. He maintained that opposition figures began to criticise the entry of the Azerbaijani army into the territory of Armenia “out of necessity”.

“Taking into account the international pressures, they considered it right to oppose it,” he told IWPR, referring to wide condemnation of Azerbaijan’s incursion inside Armenian territory. In a bold diplomatic sign, US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Armenia on September 17, becoming the highest-ranking American official to visit the South Caucasus nation since it gained independence 30 years ago.

On the same day, Gənclər Birliyi, the youth wing of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) posted a video of anti-war figures on Facebook, with the hashtag “#xainləritanı” - “know the traitors”.

“A part of the population believes in the state narrative of ‘we are in our own land, we have not crossed into the territory of Armenia,’” Shikhi explained. “Some know about the occupation, and a part of them are against it, and others support it. The latter are usually government officials and nationalists.

“But to answer which is the majority, I would say that the majority is in favour of capturing more land from Armenia,” he continued. “Aliyev also gains the upper hand from this and is able to shape public opinion.”

https://www.iwpr.net/global-voices/anti-war-sentiments-rise-azerbaijan

[Yervant1]

1945

Oct 3 2022

Of Course, I Switched Sides On Armenia And Azerbaijan. Here’s Why

By

Michael Rubin

Azerbaijanis occasionally trot it out like a ‘gotcha’: A decade ago, I was more sympathetic toward their position than I was to Armenia’s.

That is true.

With a nod and a wink or perhaps their own projection, they then suggest Armenia or the “Armenian lobby” must pay me. What else could possibly explain a change in my policy prescription?

Sorry to disappoint. Neither Armenia, Azerbaijan nor, for that matter, any other foreign state, interest, or ethnic lobby pays me for my writing or research; I am not the Atlantic Council or Georgetown University. I am fortunate to work at an institution that provides me with both a modest salary and a small budget for travel so that I need never compromise academic integrity. That some Azerbaijanis assume money is a motive is projection on their part. It exposes their frame of reference and perhaps reflects more on norms in Baku. (I did receive a carpet after one Azerbaijan conference. Our cats promptly shredded it).

So why do I write so frequently? Three reasons. First, I enjoy it. Writing helps me think through complex problems in a way often not possible when subject to the compartmentalization of government service. Secondly, it is a publish-or-perish world. My writing style might chafe, but that is because I would rather speak clearly than obfuscate for the sake of diplomatic nicety, fear of criticism, or concern that public _expression_ could undermine an ability to return to government service. As the old British saying goes, “In for a penny, in for a pound.” Lastly, it is a defense against intellectual atrophy. My academic background is in Iranian studies, but the world is interlinked. Every few years, I delve into a new country or region: the Kurds, Iraq, Turkey, Morocco, the Horn of Africa, Africa’s Great Lakes region, or Taiwan to both enable comparative analysis and force myself to learn.

That is why I write about the South Caucasus. Until I criticized Baku, Azerbaijanis generally had no issue with me addressing the region. Rather than question my integrity because they do not like my conclusions or policy prescriptions, it might be more productive if Azerbaijanis would ask what has changed over the last decade that could erode Azerbaijan’s reputation or lead to a reassessment of U.S. interests in the South Caucasus.

Consider:

Democracy: Azerbaijani Ilham Aliyev is approaching his 20^th year in office. Over the last decade, Azerbaijan has declined 14 points in Freedom House rankings. Among the 56 countries designated “not free,” Freedom House categorized Azerbaijan as “the worst of the worst,” on par with Burma and China. Armenia is far from perfect; Freedom House rates it only “partly free,” but it has improved greatly over the past decade, when it ranked only marginally better than Azerbaijan. Today, four years after its velvet revolution, Armenia ranks above Bosnia and on par with the Philippines, while Azerbaijan scores worse than Cuba and Iran. Elections in Armenia matter. In Baku, they do not.

Russia: Historically, Armenia has tight ties with Russia. This is due to not only cultural and religious ties, but also Russia’s large Armenian diaspora in Russia. Armenia’s ties to Russia are somewhat analogous to Israel’s complex relationship to Moscow. That said, there are differences: Armenia hosts a Russian military base in Gyumri. This base, whose perimeter I have driven around to observe casually its activity (or, rather, lack thereof), is a legacy of the Soviet era. Armenians accept it as a tripwire against the threat of aggression toward Armenia by Turkey or Azerbaijan, while Russians like the illusion of influence. While Azerbaijani propaganda labels Armenia to be a Russian vassal, this rings false to anyone with experience in the country. The irony is that over the last decade, Azerbaijan has deliberately oriented itself closer to Russia. Here, it plays a double game much like Turkey.

Turkey: A decade ago, I bought into the notion that Azerbaijan was an ally in the war against terrorism. Its strength was its independence. I visited Baku in 2013 for a conference and stayed on at my own expense to give a lecture at Khazar University, travel throughout the country, and conduct research for a book chapter exploring how Azerbaijan handled its complex relations with Iran. From time-to-time, I would attend closed roundtable lunches at the Azerbaijani embassy, or the occasional reception. The Azerbaijani embassy subsequently ghosted me. Ironically, I did not notice at first: my kids were young and I was too busy changing diapers to dress up and go to events. Azerbaijani diplomats then apologized, and said that the Turkish Foreign Ministry had demarched their Azerbaijani counterparts with a list of Jewish critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Turkey had decided to blacklist and demanded Azerbaijan ban as well. There had been no doubt that, under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey was transforming into a terror sympathizer if not sponsor: It embraced Hamas, Syria’s Al Qaeda affiliates, and even the Islamic State. Turkey’s intelligence chief was a well-known partisan toward Iran. It was at that point that I began to question just how independent Azerbaijan was or would remain. Today, far more than a decade ago, Aliyev acts less like the president of a proud and independent country and more like a provincial governor in Turkey kissing the ring of the would-be sultan in Ankara. Put another way, Erdoganism hemorrhaged Turkey’s influence in Washington. Today, Aliyev follows suit.

Iran: I am a hawk when it comes to U.S.-Iran relations for two reasons: First, the Islamic Republic’s ideology is unrepentantly revisionist; Tehran cannot compromise on export of revolution since it is enshrined in its founding documents as the regime’s raison d’être. Second, Iranian officials approach diplomacy with the West as an asymmetric warfare strategy rather than a means to resolve conflict. As a young Ph.D. student, I studied in Isfahan, and lived in a predominantly Armenian neighborhood and so recognize diaspora affairs color Yerevan-Tehran ties. At the same time, I remain uncomfortable with Armenia’s relationship with Iran. Today, Armenia’s ties to Iran are a matter of necessity rather than choice. The double blockade by both Azerbaijan and Turkey give Armenia no options beyond Iran and Georgia to export agricultural goods and produce, or import fuel. As a pragmatist, I recognize that the only way to resolve this is to end Azerbaijan and Turkey’s blockade. While Armenia’s ties to Iran are of necessity, Azerbaijan’s are of choice. While Azerbaijan coasts on its previous reputation as standing in opposition to Iran, by 2020, Aliyev’s trade with Tehran was on par with Armenia’s, and today likely exceeds Armenia’s.

Foreign policy debate can be rough-and-tumble, but the most successful groups are those who seek to convince rather than demonize. In practice, Armenians groups—even some that in the past demonized policy opponents—realize that quiet discussion and an effort to convince those with whom they disagree trumps the utility of seeking to punish them. Azerbaijan’s approach, though, is less mature. The primary effort of Azerbaijani diplomats and community leaders increasingly appears to be to ingratiate themselves to Aliyev with polemics. To go ad hominem may win applause in Baku but, in Washington, it forfeits influence because it suggests an inability to win an argument based on fact.

So, has my position shifted with regard to comparative U.S. policy toward Azerbaijan and Armenia? Absolutely. Not only is the region not static, but I also listened and learned.

Now a 1945 Contributing Editor, Dr. Michael Rubin is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Dr. Rubin is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of several books exploring diplomacy, Iranian history, Arab culture, Kurdish studies, and Shi’ite politics, including “Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East?” (AEI Press, 2019); “Kurdistan Rising” (AEI Press, 2016); “Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes” (Encounter Books, 2014); and “Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos” (Palgrave, 2005).

WRITTEN BYMichael Rubin

Now a 1945 Contributing Editor, Dr. Michael Rubin is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Dr. Rubin is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of several books exploring diplomacy, Iranian history, Arab culture, Kurdish studies, and Shi’ite politics, including “Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East?” (AEI Press, 2019); “Kurdistan Rising” (AEI Press, 2016); “Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes” (Encounter Books, 2014); and “Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos” (Palgrave, 2005).

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/10/of-course-i-switched-sides-on-armenia-and-azerbaijan-heres-why/

[Yervant1]

BlankSpot, Sweden

Oct 10 2022

Data analysis shows a major victory for Azerbaijan’s digital army

Last week the Swedish news agency TT reported that Azerbaijan had discovered what it claimed to be mass graves from prior conflicts in the disputed Nagorno-Karabach region. At the time, TT was unaware that the social media campaign surrounding this news was well planned by the Azerbaijanis. Blankspot has analyzed how the Azerbaijani regime uses bots and troll factories to propagate sympathetic views towards the country.

Av RASMUS CANBÄCK 10 oktober, 2022

On October 5, the Swedish TT news agency put out an article that Azerbaijan had found mass graves in Nagorno-Karabakh. The story got republished in about fifteen major Swedish media outlets, among some of the largest in Sweden.

The article’s primary source was Hikmet Hajiyev, personal adviser on foreign affairs to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who wrote a tweet. The content of his tweet was shared over a short period on September 19 thousands of times on Twitter, both from Hajiyev’s account and others with similar content.

After criticism from many people, the Swedish-Armenian historian and peace and conflict researcher Vahagn Avedian about the factuality of the text and whether Hikmet Hajiyev is a credible source, concequnelty the appointed head of news for foreign affairs at TT, Pontus Ahlmqvist, regretted the mistake.

On Twitter, he wrote: ”We generally try to include context and caveats when we quote information from authoritarian regimes that we have not been able to verify ourselves. The Armenian information on war crimes could, for example, have been included here. We take the criticism to heart.”

The news came just days after top diplomats from several countries, including the US, France and Norway, condemned Azerbaijan for gross war crimes during the September 13-14 invasion of Armenia. There is no TT article about this.

The question of how a tweet from an authoritarian regime could go through TT’s fact-checking can say something about the Azerbaijani regime’s tactics on social media.

With the help of Twitter user @Bedig_A , who developed software that utilizes Twitter’s publicly available APIs, we provide insight into how the Azerbaijani regime’s propaganda operates on Twitter. The data Blankspot investigated the source of a tweet, the number of interactions, engagements and connections between different accounts. For example, whether one account interacts with another and at what times this happens.

In other words, the software can produce statistical analysis about different users’ behaviour on Twitter. Based on the data provided, we looked into different areas: 1) signs are showing how professional ”troll factories control the accounts”. 2) Signs that there are bots and 3) Indication of state-coordinated information campaigns.

This has been done by partly focusing on particular #hashtags with many apparent tweets in a short time intervals, accounts that tweet a lot without getting much interaction, and tweets from regime representatives that get rapid non-organic spread.

The analysis has been based on periods when there was war or conflict and just before and after. For example, when Azerbaijan attacked Armenia on September 13-14.

Chart shows top accounts that spread #NoPelosi (see text below)

Signs of troll factories

One purpose of troll factories is to make particular #hashtags and messages trend. One such example is #ArmenianVandalism, which was the main message on October 5 when TT picked up the news about mass graves.

Our analysis shows that the tag #ArmenianVandalism, which normally occurs about ten times a day, started to increase on September 27. This was the same day the EU condemned Azerbaijan for the war crimes. Activity then increased to approximately 300 occurrences per day and remained there until October 5, when it suddenly spiked to almost 2000 posts, only to sink to 300 again the following day.

The top accounts spreading this hashtag shared some characteristics: they had generic Azeri names, followed by numbers. They either had no profile picture or a profile picture of a young male person; some had the ruling party logo. Almost all had relatively few followers, but enough to not seem like a startup. Most were started between one and six months ago.

Between the hours of 16:50-17:37, #ArmenianVandalism increased through 261 individual accounts, with several of the accounts we looked at tweeting the message upwards of 20 times within the time span.

Soon after, it was picked up by the news agency TT.

Chart shows how #ArmenianVandalism hastag gained momentum on October 5th

Another example is the user @LiyevAqsin, who has occasionally been banned from Twitter. Since its creation during the Nagorno-Karabakh war in October 2020, the account has tweeted no less than 58,200 times. As a rule, the tweets are brief and exclusively praise the Azerbaijani regime.

Almost all tweets are posted between 09:00 in the morning and 18:00 local time, i.e. a normal working day by Baku standards.

On average, the account is spent on Twitter about four hours per day spread over 7 days a week, but the figure is higher if you start from working days when it is actually active.

The third example is the campaign against US Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, who, on September 28, presented a proposal to ban US money supporting the Azerbaijani defence.

During #CorruptPolitician, 7,246 likes and 22,504 tweets were generated from 1,514 accounts, of which 1,452 were unique. The average time between each tweet was 2 seconds. Several regime representatives attended.

A fourth example is the hashtag #NoPelosi, which was established on September 19 when US Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on a state visit to Armenia. In connection with that, she made unusually strong statements against Azerbaijan as a result of the invasion a couple of days earlier.

The analysis shows that on September 18, #NoPelosi began to be used. Then it was tweeted 205 times with seven minutes between each tweet – on average. On September 19, it increased to 2,370 tweets, with 27 seconds between each tweet. One account, @Darya111991 tweeted #NoPelosi 519 times, which equates to an average of three tweets per minute on September 19 in the 24 hours.

Examples of the above accounts, back in June 2021, that appear to have abnormal patterns on Twitter. Some accounts have occasionally been suspended. Thus the green bar is sometimes shorter than the other two.

Signs of bots

The case with @Darya111991 shows signs of the use of bots.

Azerbaijani bots typically have generic usernames which often include many numbers. They tweet a lot and for a long time and their tweets are typically not elaborate in content – in other words, they do not appear unique.

Bots were involved in propagating both the #ArmenianVandalism and #NoPelosi hashtags, but they are generally used for a longer period of time.

One example, the user @NarnialsFree tweeted 24 hours a day for 170 days. For 510 days this account tweeted mainly during working hours. A total of 24,498 tweets.

There are many more examples. However, the intensity of tweeting increases when special messages are to be communicated in times of crisis and conflict.

The above map shows how these accounts have shared the same tweet about Cawa Media. It all started from Zaur Ahmadov’s account. This indicates that the tweet did not go organically but in a single trajectory through content Retweeting. A tweet is usually spread in several stages through shares.

Signs of coordinated information campaigns

In addition to the use of bots and troll factories, ‘real people’ with accounts are also needed to make a substantial impact. In the case of the TT article, it was Hikmet Hajiyev who was the source, but his is just one of many Azerbaijani accounts.

The information campaigns that have had the greatest impact are where bots, troll factories and accounts run by real people all cooperate, as was the case in #ArmenianVandalism, #CorruptPolitician and #NoPelosi.

On the other hand, there is coordinated cooperation without the other components as well. The dividing line between organic and artificial propagation in such cases is possibly not great.

One example of this is from December 2021 when the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Sweden, Zaur Ahmadov, (a known critic of Blankspot) tweeted a video by Cawa Media which – according to Azerbaijani rhetoric – showed Armenian war crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh. Only one day earlier, Blankspot had published an article about Cawa Media participating in an invitational trip to Azerbaijan which was followed up with an article about a seminar at an Azerbaijani propaganda conference in Brussels.

Zaur Ahmadov’s tweet received 130 shares and 227 likes. According to our analysis, 83 of these occurred within 58 seconds. Unlike the previous examples in the article, the vast majority of participating accounts here appear to be genuine, i.e. run by real people.

Example of an account supposedly run by a troll factory. It joined Twitter on 10-10-2020 and till today it tweeted 58,513 tweets

Among those who shared the video in those 58 seconds are Fuad Muradov (Azerbaijan’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs), a number of ambassadors, the PR manager of the state oil company SOCAR and several government employees in Baku.

What is striking is that all shares originated from Zaur Ahmadov’s account. Thus there were no retweets from those who had shared it. Normally, tweets are shared by one person sharing something which leads to a new follower sharing it further and so on.

It is therefore likely that the sharing of the tweet was planned through internal channels.

Since then, Cawa Media has frequently published articles about Azerbaijan, and despite there being a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the organization has also managed to be event photographers for the Armenian embassy in Stockholm.

The fact indicates that through well-planned coordination on social media, Azerbaijan can get away with its tactics without any criticism from the Swedish news outlets due to the lack of attention and interest the Caucasus region gets.

Ambassador Zaur Ahmadov used the article from TT as an indication that Swedish media are covering what is happening in Azerbaijan at all.

One reason for TT’s lack of source criticism by other newsrooms is that the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is considered a peripheral part of Europe. It often falls outside the sphere of interest of the Western media.

Correction (2022-10-10, 21:17): One Twitter account was wrongly pointed out as an example of likely being a bot. The example is deleted.

Av RASMUS CANBÄCK

https://blankspot.se/data-analysis-shows-a-major-victory-for-azerbaijans-digital-army/

[Yervant1]

Armenia - Oct 11 2022

CoE Secretary General applied to Baku regarding the killings of Armenian PoWs

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić has applied to the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov to clarify the issue of killed Armenian prisoners of war.

This was reported by the Armenia’s Representation at the Council of Europe.

“In the letter the Secretary General requested detailed and precise information from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding possible violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights based on the fact of the video footage depicting extrajudicial killings of the Armenian prisoners of war,” the news release reads.

The Secretary General also noted that the Council of Europe will follow this issue very closely in line with the mandate provided by the European Convention on Human Rights, to ensure full respect of the Organization’s standards.

https://mediamax.am/en/news/foreignpolicy/48998/

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Armenia - Oct 13 2022

Paris City Council calls for sanctions against Azerbaijani leadership

The Paris City Council unanimously adopted a resolution expressing support for the Armenian people and condemning Azerbaijan’s aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia, the Armenian Embassy in France informs.

With the resolution, Paris condemns the aggression of Azerbaijan towards the sovereign territory of Armenia, describing it as gross violation of international law and human rights.

The Paris City Council calls on the French government to impose sanctions on the leaders of Azerbaijan.

https://en.armradio.am/2022/10/13/paris-city-council-calls-for-sanctions-against-azerbaijani-leadership/

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Armenia - Oct 13 2022

PACE co-rapporteurs call on Azerbaijan to withdraw troops from Armenia

We are concerned by the numerous reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by the armed forces of Azerbaijan, said Kimmo Kiljunen (Finland, SOC) and Boriana Åberg (Sweden, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) for the monitoring of Armenia’s obligations and commitments.

“We note that the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan has decided to investigate the facts and hope that these investigations will be public and transparent. While both sides blame each other for the resumption of hostilities, Azerbaijani armed forces are occupying Armenian territory in violation of Armenia’s territorial sovereignty and Azerbaijan’s obligation under the Statute of the Council of Europe to settle conflicts by peaceful means,” the co-rapporteurs added.

“We therefore call upon the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately withdraw from all parts of the territory of Armenia and to release the prisoners of war under their control. Only diplomatic means will bring a just and lasting response to the conflict that will benefit the populations of both states,” they concluded.

https://en.armradio.am/2022/10/13/pace-co-rapporteurs-call-on-azerbaijan-to-withdraw-troops-from-armenia/

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

BREAKING: Azerbaijan demolished 18-19th century Armenian church - satellite images

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15:17, 13 October 2022

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan destroyed the 18-19th century Saint Sarkis Armenian Church in the village of Mokhrenis, Hadrut region, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiatsin said in a statement.

It said that the total destruction is seen on satellite images published by the Caucasus Heritage Watch research initiative of the US Cornell University.

“Azerbaijan’s encroachments and barbaric actions against Armenian spiritual and cultural heritage are still happening in the post-war period, just like during the Second Artsakh War,” the Mother See of Holy Etchmiatsin said.

The Armenian Church said it strongly condemns the cultural genocide continuously implemented by Azerbaijan which seeks to deprive Artsakh from any evidence of its historical Armenian identity. It warned that Azerbaijan’s policy aims to deepen the atmosphere of hate and intolerance between nations and does not contribute to re-establishing lasting peace in the region.

The Armenian Church called on the international community and organizations to give a clear assessment to this crime and take practical actions to save the Armenian spiritual-cultural historic heritage in territories which are under Azeri control.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1094800.html?fbclid=IwAR1D8DeHeqlw5ld_NLEqkvYOTZsd009-0VegEQoDF7XfWMQkzhmLkp3GGFk

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Facts about extrajudicial killings of Armenian POWs by Azerbaijani forces presented to NATO

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12:55, 14 October 2022

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. On October 12, Human Rights Defender of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan received Mr. Alexander Vinnikov, the Head of the NATO Liaison Office in Georgia.

During the meeting, Ms. Grigoryan presented the consequences of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan in September recorded by the Defender’s Office, referred to the registered cases of torture, and inhumane and degrading treatment of Armenian servicemen, including prisoners of war, including female servicemen.

The Defender presented to the interlocutor the facts about the extrajudicial killings of Armenian servicemen, emphasizing the importance of condemnation of Azerbaijan's actions by international actors.

Mr. Vinnikov expressed gratitude for the comprehensive presentation and noted that NATO is closely following the course of events.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the possible directions of deepening cooperation, including the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security", as well as within the framework of the democratic oversight of the security sector.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1094868.html?fbclid=IwAR1KdIAVPvy7qIknNuici4-4DBRgws94PPfOtAA7USH7X5kCFP9vcq45r_o

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Aggressor can’t be left without sanctions, Azerbaijan has many assets – Swiss MP

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15:39, 14 October 2022

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Stefan Müller-Altermatt, Co-Chair of the Switzerland-Armenia Friendship Group, member of the parliament of Switzerland, doesn’t rule out the possibility of imposing sanctions against Azerbaijan.

During a press conference in Yerevan, Armenia, the Swiss lawmaker said that Armenia first of all needs security guarantees.

“I think this is the most important issue that needs to be discussed here in the next months. Switzerland must be one of the countries that must clearly speak about this. The territorial integrity of Armenia is not being discussed, it first of all must be announced”, he said.

As for the possible sanctions by Switzerland against Azerbaijan, the lawmaker said that all sanctions, that were imposed in other conflicts, for example, in case of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, undoubtedly, must be applied especially in Azerbaijan’s case.

“And it cannot be that aggressor is left without sanctions. I think we should do the following: we need to treat all aggressors in the same way. Switzerland has many assets of Azerbaijan, and we must very clearly express our position, we must do everything so that they understand that Switzerland is not just a secure and safe place to keep your money with which you then buy weapons and fight against Armenia. We have to do this”, the MP said.

Another Swiss lawmaker Michel Matter stated that today, on October 14, the issue of adopting a resolution condemning Azerbaijan’s aggression will be discussed in Geneva.

“Today a discussion will be held in Geneva regarding an adoption of a resolution which will condemn Azerbaijan’s actions”, Michel Matter said.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1094899.html?fbclid=IwAR3AfzzBw8bJ5slQgAVdjZ3ns2vMusPadO8gdOhZTCD30ITXFhA5eIDG6Vo

[Yervant1]

Oct 15 2022

Biden Must Act to Stop the Next Armenian Genocide Before It’s Too Late

NEVER AGAIN, AGAIN?

The United States has a long history of inaction on genocide, while offering hollow statements like “Never Again.” It is time for that to change.

Stephan Pechdimaldji

“Million Armenians Killed Or Exile.” “Tell Horror Done in Armenia.” “Armenians Are Sent To Perish In Desert.”

These are just some of the headlines from The New York Times in 1915 that described the first genocide of the 20th century, when more than 1.5 million Armenians were systemically exterminated by the Ottoman Turks, an event the Turkish government denies to this day. Despite the overwhelming evidence at the time, the world stood idly by and did nothing.

In his most recent project, Ken Burns, the celebrated American documentary filmmaker, looked at America’s response (or lack thereof) to the Holocaust and its indifference in preventing one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the 20th century by asking if the nation lived up to its principles and ideals.

The United States has a long history of failing to prevent or halt genocide, though it has a rich history of offering hollow statements like “Never Again.” Whether it was President Bill Clinton’s mea culpa for failing to intervene the 1994 Rwandan genocide, or the Trump administration’s loud but feckless accusation of genocide by China against the Uyghurs, U.S. foreign policy has been big on words but small on action.

That is why the current crisis taking place in the South Caucasus, where Azerbaijan is currently committing war crimes and atrocities against Armenians, offers the Biden administration an opportunity to change that narrative.

Since the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan, a country led by the petro-dictator Ilham Aliyev, has escalated tensions with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabagh by launching an illegal war and unprovoked attacks.

Armenians, like myself, see these latest acts of aggression by Azerbaijan as a continuation of the 1915 genocide and a threat to their existence.

I grew up hearing stories of how my grandparents survived the Armenian genocide. I heard how, at the age of 15, my grandfather hid in a haystack during the day to avoid being taken away by Turkish soldiers. And I heard how his own father and brother were taken away, never to be seen or heard from again. I’ll never forget the story of how he fled through the deserts of Syria and made his way to Aleppo, where he worked as a welder to make enough money to eventually settle in Cairo.

But his story could have been prevented had powerful nations intervened. Tragically, that history is repeating itself.

Taking a page out of the Ottoman Empire’s playbook, Azerbaijan has embarked on a campaign to wipe out any existence of Armenians in the region. Aliyev’s anti-Armenian rhetoric has fostered a climate of hate that has permeated throughout Azeri society and on the battlefield.

That animosity has been evidenced by the way Azeri troops have treated Armenian prisoners of war. For example, video evidence recently emerged showing Azerbaijani troops executing a small group of captured Armenian soldiers.

And there continue to be reports of Armenian historical and cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabagh—including churches and monasteries that have stood for hundreds of years—being defaced, vandalized, and destroyed.

Genocide Watch, a U.S.-based nonprofit advocacy group, recently issued a genocide warning against Azerbaijan, and called for sanctions if attacks continue. And unlike Ukraine, where Russian aggression has been met with worldwide condemnation and stifling sanctions, Azerbaijan’s government has gotten a free pass from Western governments. If anything, it has been rewarded for its actions.

“Armenians, like myself, see these latest acts of aggression by Azerbaijan as a continuation of the 1915 genocide and a threat to their existence.”

Over the summer, the European Union signed an agreement with Azerbaijan to double gas imports by 2027—with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, calling Aliyev a “reliable partner.” This is the same “reliable partner” that is regularly on the lists of international human rights abusers, and who commissioned a Military Trophies Park in the capital city of Baku last year, that features a display of hundreds of helmets taken from Armenian soldiers killed during the war.

The park also features wax mannequins of captured soldiers portrayed through exaggerated caricatures based on Armenian stereotypes and tropes like crooked noses and bushy eyebrows. Many of these mannequins are shown in their dying moments or chained to jail cells.

President Biden came into office stating that human rights would be at the crux of his foreign policy, and yet he has done next to nothing in holding Azerbaijan accountable. What he has done is provide Azerbaijan with more resources, by waiving Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act which bans military aid to Baku. Instead of keeping Azerbaijan in check, Biden has emboldened Aliyev to continue his reckless and vicious behavior towards Armenia.

To be clear, Armenian-Americans are not calling for the United States to intervene militarily. The last thing that this country needs is another forever war. But we want our government to acknowledge the crimes and atrocities that are being perpetrated towards Armenia, and for human rights abusers like Aliyev to be reprimanded—and not rewarded.

Why should Americans care about what is happening to a small country in a remote part of the world? It’s because history has shown that small conflagrations have the potential to spread into larger wildfires.

That is why it is in America’s interest to hold countries like Azerbaijan accountable. Allowing would-be genocidal tyrants to eschew the rule of law provides aid and comfort to autocrats all over the world.

Joe Biden has shown that he has the guts to stand up to bullies. He has done it with Trump. He has done it with Putin. He now has an opportunity to do the same with Aliyev—a relatively much smaller threat to the U.S.

If Biden truly wants to uphold the principles of democracy and human rights, then he’ll do what is right and make sure that “Never Again” actually means something.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-must-act-to-stop-azerbaijan-from-perpetrating-the-next-armenian-genocide-before-its-too-late

[MosJan]