Statue of a Dictator (Aliyev Clan)

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Armenpress.am

European Parliament adopts resolution calling for EU sanctions against Azerbaijani officials

17:51, 14 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The European Parliament has adopted a resolution demanding the release of Gubad Ibadoghlu, the opposition figure unlawfully imprisoned in Azerbaijan, to condemn the grave human rights violations in Azerbaijan and impose sanction on Azerbaijani officials responsible for human rights violations.

The resolution was adopted with 539 votes in favor, 6 against and 24 abstentions.

The resolution states that Gubad Ibadoghlu, a renowned political economist and prominent opposition figure, was brutally attacked and arbitrarily detained on 23 July 2023 and remains in prison on dubious charges, having limited contact with his family and lawyer and reportedly being subjected to inhumane treatment. He is known for his criticism of Azerbaijan’s Government, particularly as regards corruption, inefficient management of public finances and lack of budgetary transparency; he is the Chairman of the Azerbaijan Democracy and Prosperity Movement, which has consistently been denied registration; Ibadoghlu faces a prison sentence of up to 12 years on fabricated charges.

The resolution further states that credible independent organizations currently list as many as 200 political prisoners in Azerbaijan, including journalists, civil rights activists and opposition politicians, and Azerbaijani human rights activists, such as Mahammad Mirzali, are also threatened outside national borders.

The resolution calls on the VP/HR, the EEAS and the Member States to condemn the serious human rights violations and breaches of democracy in Azerbaijan, and to raise cases such as Gubad Ibadoghlu’s in all bilateral meetings and during negotiations for a future partnership agreement, the signing of which should be conditional on the release of all political prisoners.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1119525.html?fbclid=IwAR27nk-tLCd4g8OjLYik4fRjFN6aM3WLb9LIJxDVnDleOAhiBtAQN1mXSW0

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The Telegraph, UK

Sept 15 2023

 

Azerbaijani forces using Russian-style symbols are massing on the border of Armenia

Open-source intelligence appears to back up Armenian claims that Azerbaijan is building up its border forces and is preparing for war

ByJames Kilner

Azerbaijan’s military is building up its forces near Armenia and has painted its vehicles with “war markings” similar to ones used by the Russian army before it invaded Ukraine.

Open-source intelligence shared with the Telegraph by The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) appears to back up Armenian claims that Azerbaijan is preparing for war.

Alongside intensified activity at Azerbaijani bases, CIR said that it had also detected an increase in flights between Azerbaijan and a military airfield in Israel, one of its allies, and opposing military manoeuvres by Iran, which is allied to Armenia.

“It is possible these are routine movements but analysis of other open-source data available may further indicate military build-up,” said Kyle Glen, a CIR investigator.

The Azerbaijani military symbols are an inverted “A” and stylised “F” and have been painted mainly on army infantry trucks and armoured personnel carriers.

Azerbaijan has not explained the symbols but the Russian military used “V” and “Z” symbols as battle group identifiers before it invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and, as in Russia, Azerbaijani nationalists have also adopted these military markings as avatars and logos.

For the Armenian government, Azerbaijan’s intentions are clear.

“We are concerned that a new war could start, or at least a large-scale build-up of aggression,” said Vahan Kostanyan, Armenia’s deputy foreign minister.

Azerbaijan has previously denied this. Its foreign ministry did not respond to the Telegraph’s requests for comment.

The focus of the force build-up is the border area around Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous parcel of land roughly the size of Somerset that Azerbaijan and Armenia have disputed and fought over since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In a five-week war in 2020, roughly 7,000 people were killed. Azerbaijan defeated Armenia in the war, using Turkish drones for the first time, before the Kremlin stepped in to impose a ceasefire.

But analysts said that with the Kremlin distracted by its invasion of Ukraine and Western influence limited in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev is now looking to finish his lifetime ambition of driving all ethnic Armenians out of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

“We’re at a dangerous point and we are only a couple of steps away from a new conflict,” said Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Europe think tank.

The war in Ukraine has also ripped up traditional alliances, fracturing the inherently unstable South Caucasus.

Armenia’s most important ally and business partner has been Russia and the Kremlin had been seen as a guarantor of Armenian independence. Under the 2020 peace deal that stopped the war, Russian soldiers were given a peacekeeping role and the Kremlin keeps one of its biggest overseas military bases outside Gyumri, Armenia’s second city.

But Armenia has accused the Kremlin of ignoring Azerbaijani aggression because it didn’t back its invasion of Ukraine and it has shifted its diplomatic focus towards the West. Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian prime minister, sent his wife to Kyiv this month with humanitarian aid and has hosted American soldiers for a military exercise, infuriating the Kremlin.

Mr de Waal said that Armenia’s diplomatic shift was understandable. “If Russia doesn’t protect you, what is the utility of the relationship?” he said.

If the war in Ukraine has been a disaster for Armenia’s relations with Russia, it has been a major boon for Azerbaijan, which has increased its gas supplies to Europe.

EU leaders have flown to Baku to shake hands with Mr Aliyev and have welcomed Azerbaijani diplomats in Brussels, making it far harder for them to constrain him. Azerbaijan has also rebuilt its damaged links with Russia, buying extra Russian gas to supplement its supplies to the EU.

Another major headache, analysts have said, is that any potential new war around Nagorno-Karabakh could have wider implications and make it more explosive than the 2020 war. As well as Israel, Turkey is an ally of Azerbaijan and Pakistan is an arms supplier. Armenia has developed an alliance with Iran, although it has insisted that this is not a military alliance, and it buys weapons from India.

Pressure has been building around Nagorno-Karabakh over the past couple of years. There are regular deadly skirmishes along the border, but it is now firmly focused on a single stretch of road 20 miles long called the Lachin Corridor that links mainland Armenia with a mountain plateau.

Since December, Azerbaijan has blocked the Lachin corridor, first using civilian environmental protesters and then installing a blockade that stops even aid convoys from reaching the city of Stepanakert, all overseen by watching and impassive Russian soldiers.

Roughly 120,000 ethnic Armenians live on this mountain plateau, in and around Stepanakert, which is now cut off.

Luisine, who lives in Stepanakert, said that bread, meat and medical supplies are tightly rationed and that people have reverted to a form of mediaeval subsistence existence.

“There hasn’t been bread for three days,” she said by telephone. “When I walk through the streets I hear children begging their mothers for food and their mothers crying because they have no answers.”

Stepanakert’s stores are bare and there is no coffee, tea or tobacco. Farmers carry basic produce to market on foot or by donkey and cart.

When Luisine visited the town’s main market this week, she said that only fresh mulberries and mulberry juice were on sale. “It’s terrifying right now,” she said.

The Armenian government has accused Azerbaijan of “genocide”. Azerbaijan has said that it installed the roadblock to stop arms smuggling and has offered an alternative route to reach the town.

For Anjelika it is clear that another war is imminent. She said that Azerbaijan wants to drive her from her village, a few miles from Stepanakert, and her son has been drafted into the local ethnic Armenian army.

“Things are terrible. Very bad,” she said, insisting that she won’t leave. “There is nothing left, no butter, salt, cereals, vegetables or hygiene products. Nothing.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/15/azerbaijani-troops-russian-style-symbols-armenia-border/

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Asbarez.com

Azerbaijani Flights to Israeli Arms Export Base Spike as Baku Tests Advanced Israeli Missile

by Asbarez Staff

September 15, 2023

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

Azerbaijan launches Israeli Barak-8 missile (Azerbaijani MOD photo)

 

Azerbaijan Has Allowed a Mossad Base to Monitor Iran

While official Azerbaijan continues to deny warnings that it is preparing to launch military attacks on Armenia and Artsakh, its defense ministry is reporting that during military drills this week its armed forces tested advanced Israeli-made missiles.

The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported this week that Azerbaijani air cargo flights to an Israeli base used for arms exports have spiked in recent weeks. Armenian officials have been warning international players about Azerbaijani troop build up on the border with Armenia and the line-of-contact with Artsakh.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on Wednesday reported that the military drills included the live-firing of the Israeli made Barak-8 ER air defense system. According to the statement, the Barak-8 detected and destroyed a ballistic missile “launched by an imaginary enemy.”

Israel continues to strengthen its alliance with Azerbaijan and over the years has sold billions of dollars in weapons to Baku. In return, Haaretz reported, Azerbaijan is supplying Israel with oil and access to Iran—Israel’s number one regional foe.

According to official reports from Azerbaijan, over the years, Israel has sold Baku its most advanced weapons systems, including ballistic missiles, air defense and electronic warfare systems, kamikaze drones, and more.

In 2017, Israeli Aerospace Industries found itself in hot water when its experts live-tested a drone hitting targets in Artsakh.

Cargo flights from Israeli base to Baku (as of March 2023). Since then 11 more have landed (Photo by Yarden Antebi for Haaretz)

Haaretz, citing foreign media sources, reported that Azerbaijan has allowed the Mossad to set up a forward branch to monitor what is happening in Iran, and has even prepared an airfield intended to aid Israel in the case it decides to attack Iranian nuclear sites.

Reports from two years ago stated that the Mossad agents who stole the Iranian nuclear archive smuggled it to Israel via Azerbaijan, Haaretz said.

An investigation by Haaretz in March revealed that over the past seven years, 92 cargo flights flown by Azerbaijani Silk Way Airlines have landed at the Ovda airbase, the only airfield in Israel through which explosives may be flown into and out of the country. The investigation found the number of flights spiked during the 2020 Artsakh war.

Since March, there have been 11 more Azeri flights, including 5 in the past two weeks, totaling 103 flights in seven years.

https://asbarez.com/azerbaijani-flights-to-israeli-arms-export-base-spike-as-baku-tests-advanced-israeli-missile/?fbclid=IwAR0FfbNl_HgKP3H9Mhn2vkEEYygj1bVoXPQjzBcnYRHgeL32guoSKIkk3jI

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Asbarez.com

Baku Accuses U.S. Diplomat of ‘Smear Campaign’

by Asbarez Staff

September 15, 2023

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

Yuri Kim, acting assistant Secretary of State speaks at a Sente hearing on Sep. 14

 

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry on Friday accused the United States Acting Under Secretary of State Yuri Kim of engaging in a smear campaign against Baku after she testified at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Artsakh on Thursday.

During her testimony at the hearing, entitled “Assessing the Crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh,” presided over by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Senator Robert Menendez, senators heard Kim and asked questions regarding the urgent steps, if any, the U.S. is taking to thwart a genocide of Armenians by Azerbaijan and its president, Ilham Aliyev.

“The Lachin corridor must open now. Other routes can be opened too, but Lachin must be opened, that’s non negotiable,” Kim said during the hearing referring to Azerbaijan’s now nine-month-long blockade of Artsakh.

“We view the status quo as completely unacceptable. We will not stop working until we reach a resolution. We have consistently said that that corridor must be opened to commercial, humanitarian and private traffic. We’ve conveyed that message both publicly and privately to all levels of the government of Azerbaijan on numerous occasions. Access to food, medicine, baby formula and energy should never be held hostage,” she added.

She also said that the U.S. will not tolerate the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Artsakh.

“The United States will not tolerate any action – short-term or long-term – to ethnically cleanse or commit any other atrocities against the Armenian people of Nagorno Karabakh. The current humanitarian situation is not acceptable. Humanitarian access through the Lachin corridor and other routes must be available now. We will do everything possible to make that happen and we look forward to continuing to work to make that happen,” Kim stated, however, not referring to Azerbaijan as the perpetrator of what many experts have called a genocide in progress.

In his statement on Friday, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada said that statements made by Kim do not reflect“the current situation and realities in the post-conflict situation in the region” and “contain elements of Armenia’s worldwide smear campaign against Azerbaijan.”

Hajizada added that the view expressed by Kim contradicts the agreement on the simultaneous use of the Akna (Aghdam)-Stepanakert and Lachin-Stepanakert roads, which was allegedly reached between President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on September 1.

Artsakh authorities on Thursday said that Azerbaijan has reneged on its pledge of opening the two roads and continues to keep Artsakh under a blockade.

“Non-observance of this agreement, which is also intended to be implemented through the mediation of the US side, by Armenia and the so-called regime created by it, and groundless claims on the ‘blockade and humanitarian situation’ are well-known to the US,” Hajizada added.

https://asbarez.com/azerbaijan-accuses-u-s-of-smear-campaign/?fbclid=IwAR03duQdBbPeEkhYvgiK_LkROqXvKKBuABWuB__IsxKlAWtoHiVtaq41lck

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The Philadelphia Inquirer

Sept 17 2023

 

Will the world prevent another Armenian genocide?

A monthslong siege in the South Caucasus region by Azerbaijani forces has created a humanitarian crisis that is nearing catastrophe and is now widely believed to constitute an effort at genocide.

by Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, For The Inquirer

Published Sep. 17, 2023, 6:01 a.m. ET

 

In the year that marks the 75th anniversary of the Genocide Convention, the world faces the real threat of a second Armenian genocide, this time in the contested South Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh.

Since Dec. 12, the Azerbaijani regime of President Ilham Aliyev, openly supported by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been blockading the 120,000 ethnic Armenians in Artsakh by preventing the movement of vital supplies and people along the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting the area to Armenia. On June 15, Azerbaijan completely sealed off the region from the outside world. Even the International Committee of the Red Cross is not able to enter.

This total siege has created a humanitarian crisis that is nearing catastrophe and is now widely believed to constitute an effort at genocide — either by starving the population to death or by forcing it to flee and thus destroying a civilization.

Aliyev’s aggressive policies toward the indigenous Armenians in Artsakh are not surprising. His military seized much of the disputed enclave in a 2020 war that ended with Russian peacekeepers in the area. Aliyev now covets the core that remains as well as part of Armenia proper, and he is hoping that Russia’s preoccupation with Ukraine, Turkey’s importance as a broker with Russia, and the European Union’s hopes for Azeri natural gas will create a space in which he can act with impunity.

The foot-dragging of the international community in the face of this potential genocide is harder to understand, particularly now that there is so much more awareness of early warning signs and global training of government officials in genocide prevention.

Genocide experts have taken note of the way in which Aliyev’s statements have made clear that he has set his sights on a total victory over the Armenians of Artsakh, which will constitute a fulfillment of, in his words, a “historic mission” and a restoration of “national dignity.” His ideology of an Armenian cosmic foe closely resembles the ideologies of some of the most deadly perpetrators of genocide in history.

On the ground, there have been horrific atrocities perpetrated against Armenian civilians and soldiers that aim at humiliating and desecrating Armenian identity, many of which harken back to the atrocities of the Armenian genocide of 1915-1923. Indeed, Aliyev’s regime has lauded the Ottoman war criminals who committed those century-old atrocities.

Because of these alarming red flags for genocide since the 2020 war, international nongovernmental organizations and professional groups devoted specifically to the prevention of genocide have been sounding the alarm about a threatened genocide in the region. Some American politicians have joined them.

The Philadelphia-based Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, which I helped found, along with Genocide Watch and the International Association of Genocide Scholars have each published statements and alerts.

Others, including Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former lead prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, have warned that the population of Artsakh is at serious risk of genocide.

Demonstrators gather in Yerevan, Armenia, in September 2022 to protest attacks by Azerbaijan.Stepan Poghosyan/AP

Aliyev is clearly using the blockade as a test of the international community’s commitment to protecting Armenians in their ancestral lands — a test that the international community has so far failed. The international press has displayed only lukewarm interest, and foreign diplomats are engaging in the language of false equivalencies. This sends a dangerous green light to Aliyev.

The hope that genocide can be avoided through a “peace” deal is naive. And Aliyev has demonstrated time and again his contempt for international law and treaties. Not only has he routinely violated the tripartite cease-fire agreement that ended the 2020 war, but he has also proudly ignored the binding order of the International Court of Justice earlier this year that mandated he immediately lift the blockade.

Almost all the red flags of genocide are evident now. Western leaders ignore them at their peril. The stakes are incredibly high — and not just for Armenians. If the international community sits by idly as a genocide occurs, it could spell the end of multilateralism in the world order.

Genocides are hard to imagine until they happen. Once underway, they are almost impossible to stop. For this reason, 75 years ago, the international community agreed on the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The hope was that with the proper institutions, we may be able to identify this man-made catastrophe before it happens and prevent it.

We have the institutions to stop an Armenian genocide this time around. The question is: Will we use them?

Elisa von Joeden-Forgey is an endowed chair in the department of Holocaust and genocide studies at Keene State College. She is cofounder and executive director of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, based in Philadelphia.

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/azerbaijan-armenia-genocide-risk-20230917.html

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Armenpress.am

Spanish lawmaker warns of risk of ethnic cleansing facing Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh amid new Azeri attack

14:18, 19 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. There is a clear risk of ethnic cleansing and extermination of Armenians in their historical lands, Nagorno-Karabakh, Spanish Member of Parliament Jon Inarritu said after Azerbaijan launched a major bombardment attack in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a post on X, Inarritu accused the international community of not paying sufficient attention to the attack.

“Azerbaijan is once again attacking the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). There is a clear risk of ethnic cleansing and extermination facing the Armenians in their own lands, whereas the international community is turning a blind eye,” the Spanish lawmaker said. He also posted a video showing frightened locals amid air raid sirens in Stepanakert.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1119858.html?fbclid=IwAR26d7VX6y3tJwBqzMv2opUK-eVw-UTH4Pa_Vr7Qo_PeKOgafQGznQQk0SA

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Armenpress.am

Azerbaijan’s attacks on Nagorno-Karabakh must end now – MEP Andrey Kovatchev

15:29, 19 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan’s attacks on Nagorno-Karabakh must end now, Member of the European Parliament Andrey Kovatchev has said.

“Azerbaijan’s attacks on Nagorno Karabakh must end now. It is clear that Putin is backing them and trying to destabilize Armenia. Azerbaijan must immediately stop this and allow the return to normality in NK. "Humanitarian corridors" aiming to drive Armenians out of NK equals ethnic cleansing,” Kovatchev, the European Parliament rapporteur on Armenia, said in a post on X.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1119876.html?fbclid=IwAR1e2A6WlcF-nO9ArLQEiKR3suzNvawDn8TZpdCm-OO3hu1G7LiyKDjXiYk

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Reuters

Sept 29 2023

 

Nagorno-Karabakh exodus amounts to a war crime, legal experts say

By Anthony Deutsch and Stephanie van den Berg

THE HAGUE, Sept 29 (Reuters) - As tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians flee their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh, several international experts say the exodus meets the conditions for the war crime of "deportation or forcible transfer", or even a crime against humanity.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by Armenian Christians who set up the self-styled Republic of Artsakh three decades ago after a bloody ethnic conflict as the Soviet Union collapsed.

By Friday, over 90,000 of the estimated population of 120,000 had fled into Armenia, the RIA news agency cited the Yerevan government as saying.

The exodus has evoked the spectre of the 1988-94 war between Armenians and their Azeri neighbours, part of a history of ethnic bloodshed and displacement going back generations that scars the region's folk memory and has bred deep mutual fear and suspicion.

Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, told journalists in Brussels on Tuesday: "Sometimes in international press ... we find certain metaphors that ethnic cleansing is taking place or Azerbaijan is conducting genocide ...

"There was no verified fact on the ground of any kind of violence against the local civilians."

Whatever the history and the lack of independent reports on events inside the isolated territory, several international legal experts believe the mass flight fits the legal definition of a war crime.

The ICC's founding documents say that, when referring to forcible transfer or deportation, "the term 'forcibly' is not restricted to physical force, but may include threat of force or coercion, such as that caused by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or abuse of power against such person or persons or another person, or by taking advantage of a coercive environment".

Such a "coercive environment" was created in Nagorno-Karabakh before the offensive by Azerbaijan's obstruction of essential supplies, said international lawyer Priya Pillai and Melanie O'Brien, visiting professor at the University of Minnesota and president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.

 

POSSIBLE CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

Big gains in a 44-day war in 2020 had put Azerbaijan in a position to block the flow of food, fuel and medicines from Armenia along the Lachin corridor - for three decades Karabakh's lifeline through hostile territory.

"So the fear/apprehension of the population – due to the coercive environment created by the months-long blockade and the recent armed attack – would meet the threshold for this crime," Pillai said, adding that it would be a more severe 'crime against humanity' if considered to be part of a widespread attack.

There is, however, no swift path to prosecution because neither state belongs to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the permanent tribunal for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

O'Brien believes the blockade - which Baku said was needed to prevent weapons smuggling - was in effect the start of a genocide because it was implemented with the aim of "deliberately inflicting conditions of life designed to bring about the physical destruction of the targeted group".

The first prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, agreed with O'Brien's argumentation, noting that a ruling of genocide did not require mass killings.

"For me, it's obviously a genocide," he said.

For Azerbaijan, however, retaking control of Nagorno-Karabakh helps to redress the traumas of 1988-94.

Around 30,000 people were killed in fighting to establish separate homelands, according to "Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War", a 2003 book by Thomas de Waal.

At the same time, some 500,000 Azeris from Karabakh and the areas around it were expelled from their homes while 350,000 Armenians left Azerbaijan and 186,000 Azerbaijanis left Armenia.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, a legal think-tank, warned in a 127-page report on Sept. 5, days before Azerbaijan's offensive, of the dire potential consequences.

"It would almost assuredly result in the forced displacement of Armenians from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the widespread commission of genocidal atrocities, reflecting those committed in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020 and subsequent hostilities," it said.

"If the Armenians of Artsakh were to be displaced ... it would result in the genocidal destruction of a people, as the Artsakh Armenians would lose their distinct identity."

Reporting by Anthony Deutsch and Stephanie van den Berg; Additional reporting by Andrew Grey in Brussels and David Lewis in Nairobi; Editing by Kevin Liffey

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nagorno-karabakh-exodus-amounts-war-crime-legal-experts-say-2023-09-29/

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Armenpress.am

Lemkin Institute accuses world leaders of complicity in genocide in NK, slams US for ‘reckless bothsidesism'

17:43, 29 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has criticized the United States for ‘reckless bothsidesism’ and its ‘delusional belief’ that the genocidal regime of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev can engage in good-faith talks or negotiations.

The Lemkin Institute reacted to US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller’s recent statement on Nagorno-Karabakh that the US has done its best “to find a diplomatic solution, but at the end of the day, we must not forget that there are two sides here that simply have differences.”

“Demonstrating that it has learned nothing from the genocide currently being committed by Azerbaijan against the Armenians of #Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh, the United States continues to enable the perpetrator with its reckless "bothsidesism" and its delusional belief that the genocidal regime of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev can engage in good-faith talks or negotiations. Genocide is not a matter of "simply [having] differences." Furthermore, suggesting that the US has played no role in enabling Aliyev's impunity to commit genocide is mendacious at best. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention warns world leaders that they are behaving in ways that leave them open not only to charges of complicity in genocide but also to charges of aiding and abetting the crime,” the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention said.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1120877.html?fbclid=IwAR0frnuey-KiDv01M38-hr7iYtA8KKygkSC0dZdruNFmCFOeK9oGzSHC9sM

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Washington Times
Sept 27 2023


One of the world’s oldest Christian communities faces genocide. Where’s Biden?

By Billy Hallowell - - Wednesday, September 27, 2023

OPINION:

“One of the oldest Christian communities in the world is being destroyed.”.

It’s hard to imagine this dreadful truth unfolding in the 21st century, yet this is the situation happening right now in Nagorno-Karabakh, the small, landlocked region between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“We are witnessing, in real time, the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh by the dictatorship of Azerbaijan and its partners,” Joel Veldkamp, head of international communications at persecution watchdog Christian Solidarity International, told me this week.

As I detailed earlier this year, Mr. Veldkamp and his organization have been at the forefront of the crisis, warning for months that a potential genocide was brewing and pleading with the West to take decisive action.

Tragically, the U.S. and other nations have, instead, aimlessly watched as Azerbaijan has steadily marched toward total dominance of a region that houses 120,000 ethnic and mostly Christian Armenians — a historic zone with some of the world’s oldest Christian churches and heritage.

In situations like these, there are defining moments along the way that set off alarm bells, but these clarion calls were left mostly unmet by a torpid international community. In December, one of those brazenly disturbing moments was Azerbaijan’s intentional blockage of the Lachin corridor, the only roadway connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.

This left Armenian residents in the region without food, resources, electricity, basic transport for surgery and other essentials. Residents, in-tune political leaders and human rights activists pleaded with the world to take notice, with relative silence reverberating.

That blockade culminated in a deadly attack last week, a forced decision by Nagorno-Karabakh to essentially dissolve its government, and a panicked quest by thousands of residents to collect everything they can take and flee the region they’ve called home for centuries.

“People are leaving not because they want to, but because Azerbaijan is refusing to let them return to their homes or to move past the siege lines, and refusing to guarantee their security,” Mr. Veldkamp explained. “These are de facto deportations.”

The horror of the situation for the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh is almost unimaginable. A woman named Nonna Poghosyan told CNN she and her family spent Monday assessing their home to see what could fit into suitcases as they prepared to flee.

“They cry for every toy,” she said of her 9-year-old twins, who must decide what to leave behind when they leave the home and life they’ve known.

A 70-year-old teacher named Vera Petrosyan told Reuters Tuesday she has seen shootings, hunger and horror amid the chaos.

“I left everything behind. I don’t know what is in store for me. I have nothing. I don’t want anything,” Ms. Petrosyan said. “I would not want anybody to see what I have seen.”

More than 200 people died in last week’s Azerbaijani offensive, leaving families with another horrific conundrum: how to honor the dead.

“Families who lost loved ones in Azerbaijan’s attack are facing horrendous choices – should they bury them in their homeland, where they will no longer be able to visit their graves after they are deported in the coming days, and where their graves might be desecrated by Azerbaijani forces, or should they try to have them brought to Armenia by refrigerated car for burial, at great expense?” Mr. Veldkamp asked. “The thousands of years’ worth of Armenian graves and churches in Nagorno-Karabakh, of course, cannot be safeguarded at all.”

His conclusion that “this is a dark day” cannot be emphasized enough. And yet where is the West? Why has the Biden administration been so painfully silent on the matter? It’s true officials are currently visiting Armenia, but critics note it’s essentially too little, too late.

Since December, the Lachin corridor has been blockaded, with the situation intensifying every day since its inception. Plus, previous battles in 2020 helped set the stage for the current crisis; those Azerbaijani assaults, too, yielded very little international reaction.

The U.S. has no doubt been slow to take action, failing, until now, to consider pausing military aid to Azerbaijan, among other viable actions. Some critics want the Biden administration to call out the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh for what it is: a genocide.

According to the United Nations, the word is defined as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” The specific deeds include: causing mental harm or “serious bodily” injury, taking actions against a group to create “physical destruction in whole or in part,” making moves to stop or prevent births within the group, or moving children of the group to another group.

We can debate the definition of “genocide” all day long, but one uncomfortable truth remains: If the U.S. and other Western nations exhibited strong leadership, the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh wouldn’t have reached this fever pitch.

Bad actors take terrible action when they know the forces of good are distracted, uninterested or unwilling to stop them. And that’s the tragedy we face right now, with Mr. Veldkamp warning the threat to Armenia itself could be nowhere near over.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Azerbaijan on Sept. 25 and openly praised the incursion. Let’s remember it was the Ottoman Empire — the previous iteration of modern-day Turkey — that was responsible for the Armenian Genocide, a campaign of mass deportation and murder that killed up to 1 million Armenians. Turkey, a nation remiss to admit its past horrors, is now openly praising another horror directed at the Armenians.

The U.S. and other Western nations should have taken up the mantle of leadership months ago but failed to do so. Had this crisis been an opportunity to warn about climate change, host a lecture on some outlandish social issue very few people care about, or implement another vapid pet project, the world would certainly know every detail of what was unfolding.

Sadly, ignorance and confusion abound, and evil, as always, never wastes an opportunity.

• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Mr. Hallowell is the author of four books.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/sep/27/one-worlds-oldest-christian-communities-faces-geno/

[Yervant1]

1945

Sept 30 2023

Joe Biden Must Act: Don’t Let Azerbaijan’s Regime Get Away With Murder

The Biden administration needs to act now to stop Azerbaijan from taking its repression on the road, right into the heart of America.

by Michael Rubin

Just over two weeks ago, Acting Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“We will not tolerate any attack on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Kim declared. But the Biden administration tolerated just that. The best the State Department could do in the wake of an Azerbaijani aggression that has so far driven close to three-quarters of Nagorno-Karabakh’s indigenous population out of the region is to say “we are quite serious” about the U.S. desire to have an international monitoring mission. The White House has yet to declare a cessation of military aid to Azerbaijan, even as Congress grows more frustrated with its tepid response.

While Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has promised to ensure the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population, this is little comfort. Aliyev has never kept a promise, nor has the West held him to account for his duplicity. Further, Azerbaijanis in practice have no rights. Freedom House ranks the country alongside China and the military junta-controlled Myanmar in freedom. It ranks below Russia, Iran, and Cuba.

To understand how Azerbaijan represses its own people, consider the case of Gubad Ibadoghlu, a prominent scholar the Aliyev regime detained. Aliyev’s security services said they arrested Ibadoghlu for allegedly being in possession of counterfeit currency. The problem is that they first reportedly tried breaking into his safe, and when they were unable to crack it, they simply left a paper bag with counterfeit currency in a paper bag on top. The alleged setup fails the logic test: Why would someone have a safe and keep their money on a bookshelf?

The episode is straight from the autocrat’s playbook. It does not pass the smell test. Nor does the whispering campaign about Ibadoghlu’s alleged religiosity. Put aside that religiosity is not a sin so long as no one tries to impose it on others. The fact is Ibadoghlu reportedly has one of the most impressive collections of wine that he shared openly with friends and associates.

The real reason Aliyev may have acted against Ibadoghlu, his son Emin Bayramli told me, is that he was researching alleged corruption on the part of firms linked to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in portions of Nagorno-Karabakh seized by Azerbaijani and Turkish forces in November 2020. Ibadoghlu also researched Azerbaijani “caviar diplomacy” in the United Kingdom, where Aliyev’s influence is high because of his partnership with BP (formerly British Petroleum).

Dictatorships thrive in darkness. This is why silence is never the answer when dictators arrest dissidents. After Ibadoghlu’s detention, his son Emin Bayramli worked to keep his father in the limelight and to focus attention on the conditions in which Azerbaijan kept him confined.

It was an effective strategy that annoyed the Aliyev regime. Sometime late on Aug. 18 or in the early morning hours of Aug. 19, someone entered the New Jersey house in which Bayramli lived and ransacked his room. An investigation is ongoing, but Azerbaijani agents or those working on their behalf are among the chief suspects that federal law enforcement now investigate, Bayramli told me on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The case should worry all Americans. Dictatorships are becoming increasingly bold about targeting Americans not only abroad, but also inside the United States. Few remember that when Iranian radicals seized the U.S. Embassy in Iran and took 52 American diplomats hostage, President Jimmy Carter did not sever relations. He did that only five months later when the Iranian embassy in Washington, DC, organized the assassination of an Iranian dissident in nearby Bethesda, Maryland. That reaction set a red line that Iranian revolutionaries abided by until recently, even after repeatedly targeting dissidents in Europe.

Those red lines have eroded. The Iranian government, for example, has sought to kidnap Iranian-American dissidents from New York. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi openly brags about putting hits on former American officials Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook. Erdogan’s bodyguards have attacked American protesters in the heart of Washington, DC. The Bayramli case marks the first apparent attempt by the Azerbaijani regime to target dissidents in the United States. That should be a wakeup call.

Aliyev is riding high. He has conquered Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory Azerbaijan has never truly controlled, and expelled the indigenous Armenian population. He has called the American bluff without consequence. He believes, quite literally, that he can get away with murder. Quite simply, Aliyev is out of control. Words are not enough. The Biden administration needs to act now to stop Azerbaijan from taking its repression on the road, right into the heart of America.

Now a 19FortyFive 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/2023/09/joe-biden-must-act-dont-let-azerbaijans-regime-get-away-with-murder/

[Yervant1]

News.am, Armenia

Oct 1 2023

Turkish historian: Patch on Azerbaijani soldiers’ sleeve says ‘Don’t run, Armenian. You'll just die exhausted.’

16:46, 01.10.2023

The patch on the sleeve of the Azerbaijani soldiers reads in Turkish: “Don’t run, Armenian. You'll just die exhausted," Turkish historian Taner Akçam wrote on Facebook.
“You all know the man in the photograph: this is Enver ***** - one of the main architects of the Armenian Genocide.
It is obvious that in the minds of the Azerbaijani regime there is a direct connection between the 1915 genocide and their own actions. So we don't have to create this connection later.
The question is, what else will this mentality do in this region?
To preempt the phrase “We didn’t know,” I recommend that everyone distribute this photo,” the historian noted when he published a photo of the patch.

https://news.am/eng/news/784374.html

[Yervant1]

France 24

Oct 3 2023

Will Azerbaijan accept ethnic Armenians' 'right to return' to Nagorno-Karabakh 'homeland'?

The last bus carrying ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh left the region Monday, completing a grueling weeklong exodus of over 100,000 people — more than 80% of its residents — after Azerbaijan reclaimed the area in a lightning military operation. The bus that entered Armenia carried 15 passengers with serious illnesses and mobility problems, said Gegham Stepanyan, a human rights ombudsman for the former breakaway region that Azerbaijan calls Karabakh. He called for information about any other residents who want to leave but have had trouble doing so. In a 24-hour campaign that began Sept. 19, the Azerbaijani army routed the region's undermanned and outgunned Armenian forces, forcing them to capitulate. The separatist government then agreed to disband itself by the end of the year, but Azerbaijani authorities are already in charge of the region. For more on the Armenian exodus amid Azerbaijan's move to reaffirm full control of Nagorno-Karabakh, FRANCE 24's Genie Godula is joined by Olesya Vartanyan, International Crisis Group's Senior Analyst for the South Caucasus region.

Watch the video report at https://www.france24.com/en/video/20231003-will-azerbaijan-accept-ethnic-armenians-right-to-return-to-nagorno-karabakh-homeland

[Yervant1]

The Guardian, UK

Oct 3 2023

‘This is a forced migration’: the ethnic Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh

Tens of thousands have packed their lives into their vehicles and fled the disputed region for Armenia

Jedidajah Otte

Anoush, a 23-year-old recent English graduate from Martuni province in the self-declared republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, is one of tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians who have fled to Armenia this week, after officials announced that Nagorno-Karabakh will cease to exist on New Year’s Day 2024.

Almost all ethnic Armenians have now left the disputed region, which broke away from Azerbaijan after the collapse of the Soviet Union, amid events that Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has called a “direct act of ethnic cleansing”.

“We were happy living there, even during nine months of blockade [of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijani forces], when there was no light, gas supply or internet, no flour to bake bread, because we were in our homeland,” says Anoush, who was one of dozens of people to contact the Guardian via a callout about Nagorno-Karabakh. “Our city [survived the blockade], as people were able to keep domestic animals such as chicken and geese.”

When Azerbaijan launched a 24-hour military offensive on 19 September, Anoush’s 28-year-old brother, Harout – who had returned to Karabakh from working in construction in Moscow to grow potatoes for his starving family – went to the border to join the frontline resistance.

“My grandmother baked bread for our soldiers from leftover cornflour. But unfortunately, we were not as strong as our enemy, and we were not as many,” Anoush says.

Last Monday, she and seven family members were driven over the Armenian border by a Karabakh civilian in an army vehicle. “We didn’t have to pay for it. After nine months of blockade, money has no value in Karabakh.

“It was so difficult to leave. My sister and brother were in school. I packed a handful of soil from my homeland, a photo album and some warm clothes.”

Four days later, the group arrived in the village of Tsovak in eastern Armenia, where Anoush’s boyfriend, who has Karabakh roots but lives in Armenia, has rented a three-bedroom house.

“It’s 13 of us here, sleeping on the floor. Six more will come soon – my mum, my three brothers, my sister and my grandmother. Harout will join us soon, too.

“We don’t know yet [whether we will stay in Tsovak]. We don’t know where it will be peaceful to live. I think there are no peaceful places on our planet left.”

Muriel Talin Clark, 51, a UK resident with Armenian roots, had travelled to her ancestral homeland last month to volunteer for the educational charity Oxford Armenia Foundation and was supposed to return to London two weeks ago.

But when thousands of refugees started crossing into the country, she decided to stay and volunteer with the Armenian Red Cross at a registration centre for refugees in the tiny town of Vayk in central Armenia.

“There are enormous numbers of people arriving, and so many different needs. The registration office is overloaded. People have packed up their life and tried to fit it on the luggage racks of their vehicles, with entire families crammed inside, taking turns to sleep in the car.

“Many arrived on buses and only have a small plastic bag with personal belongings. We provide them with a bit of food, nappies and wet wipes. People are relieved to get out of Karabakh and escape harm, but particularly older people are often very distraught and feel completely lost. A lot of people are crying, because they know there is no way back. This is a forced migration.”

A doctor and a few nurses, Clark says, are trying their best to provide care for many of the refugees, with elderly people in particular often arriving in critical condition, because of restricted access to food and medication during the lengthy blockade.

“Many people have been starving, eating only potatoes for instance, they ran out of everything, even salt,” she says. “We have had a few children arriving with fever. At night, the temperature drops a lot, but people don’t have suitable gear.”

Volunteers at the centre are photocopying refugees’ passports or birth certificates, where available, before trying to find them a place to stay across Armenia.

“These people have nowhere to go. They are coming to Armenia because they believe it is their only hope of survival. They cannot live with Azerbaijani people, in a country where they are not wanted. We try to offer them abandoned houses in villages, but it’ll be difficult to fit everyone in.”

Some of the children arriving, Clark explains, have not been schooled for quite some time, while others want to start higher education in Yerevan, the capital.

“Many are very keen to go to Yerevan to find work, to build a new life, but finding places is quite difficult. Many Russians have recently migrated there, because of the sanctions, to be able to continue carrying out business.

“Rents have gone up a lot, there’s a capacity problem. If you don’t have connections, it’s very hard to find a place.”

Though some, she says, have family who can put them up, most arrivals do not know anyone in Armenia. Many of the refugees pouring into the centre are subsistence farmers from rural areas in Nagorno-Karabakh, looking to find a new piece of land, but Clark says farming conditions may be different to what they are used to.

A lot of Armenians are willing to help, Clark says, although many are “in shock”.

“People are very sad because we have lost that land now to Azerbaijan, with all its cultural heritage, churches from the middle ages, fortresses, all considered extremely precious. It’s a tragedy.

“We’ve got so much to do. People are coming and coming.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/03/this-is-a-forced-migration-the-ethnic-armenians-fleeing-nagorno-karabakh

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

BREAKING: Azerbaijan opts out of Granada summit

14:15, 4 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has cancelled his participation in the planned October 5 Granada summit with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President of the European Council Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, according to Azerbaijani media reports.

According to the reports, Azerbaijan opted out of the meeting because Germany and France rejected Azerbaijan’s request to include Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the meeting. According to the Azerbaijani media reports, Azerbaijan could agree to an EU-mediated trilateral meeting, if that format is restored.

Azerbaijan will also refuse to participate in any format meetings with French participation, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Turkish media outlets reported that Erdogan has also cancelled his visit to Granada, Spain.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1121173.html?fbclid=IwAR2h866hb85RJOnGD-Ygi_PBA96FZXTO6Q-tQRDdrigVniwNxxutQ0IvUio

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

‘A masquerade’- French senator slams infamous UN mission’s visit to Nagorno-Karabakh

14:36, 4 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4, ARMENPRESS. French Senator Valérie Boyer has rebuked a recent UN team’s visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, describing it as a ‘masquerade’.

“I think we need to defend Armenia, but not through the masquerade happening today,” she said, referring to the UN mission visit to NK. “Do you have the list of participating countries in the mission selected by Azerbaijan? There’s no one left in [Nagorno-Karabakh],” Boyer said during the C dans l'air program.

The Senator called on the French government to recall its ambassador from Azerbaijan and impose sanctions against Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

After most of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh had fled the region following the September 19-20 Azerbaijani attack, a UN team reportedly consisting of representatives of Turkey, Pakistan, Albania, Hungary and Russia – all traditional allies and partners of Azerbaijan - visited Nagorno-Karabakh and claimed that they were ‘struck by the sudden manner in which the local population left their homes’, and that they did not see 'any damage to civilian infrastructure'.

However, civilian infrastructures were extensively targeted by the Azeri military during the attack, Nagorno-Karabakh authorities reported during the hostilities. Civilian casualties included children.

On October 3, a senior Armenian diplomat strongly criticized the UN team, saying that it was “discrediting the UN as an institution.”

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1121175.html?fbclid=IwAR305pO7z6J8uvd9eko62wIDZ6obXRQjKwvUqGwBxJf5MLMeDiK-r6PLOZQ

[Yervant1]

First they give the go ahead to the butcher, and later condemn it. I as a simple ordinary guy could see the invasion coming, but they did nothing and now they are pretending of doing something. But it seems nobody is listening. BTW now it's too little too late!

 

Armenpress.am

European Parliament condemns Azerbaijan’s aggression in Nagorno-Karabakh

14:36, 5 October 2023

BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on condemning Azerbaijan’s military aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, calling on the EU to sanction Azeri officials responsible for the ceasefire violation in NK which led to numerous human rights violations.

The resolution was adopted on October 5 with 491 votes in favor, 9 against and 36 abstentions.

Condemning Azerbaijan’s violent seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh, the MEPs call for sanctions against those responsible and for the EU to review its relations with Baku.

In the resolution the European Parliament strongly condemns Azerbaijan’s pre-planned and unjustified military attack against Nagorno-Karabakh on 19 September, which MEPs say constitutes a gross violation of international law and human rights and a clear infringement of previous attempts to achieve a ceasefire. With over 100,000 ethnic Armenians having been forced to flee NK since the latest offensive, MEPs say the current situation amounts to ethnic cleansing and strongly condemn threats and violence committed by Azerbaijani troops against the Armenian inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh.

They also call on the EU and member states to immediately offer all necessary assistance to Armenia to deal with the influx of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh and the subsequent humanitarian crisis.

MEPs want to see Azeri officials sanctioned

Appalled by Azerbaijan’s latest attack, Parliament calls on the EU to adopt targeted sanctions against the government officials in Baku responsible for multiple ceasefire violations and human rights abuses in Nagorno-Karabakh. While reminding the Azeri side that it bears full responsibility for ensuring the safety and well-being of all people in the enclave, MEPs demand investigations into abuses committed by Azerbaijani troops that may constitute war crimes.

Expressing serious concern over irredentist and inflammatory statements by Azerbaijani president llham Aliyev and other Azeri officials threatening the territorial integrity of Armenia, MEPs warn Baku against any potential military adventurism and call on Türkiye to restrain its ally.

The EU must reassess its relations with Azerbaijan

Parliament calls on the EU to undertake a comprehensive review of its relations with Baku. To develop a strategic partnership with a country like Azerbaijan, which blatantly violates international law and international commitments, and has an alarming human rights record, is incompatible with the objectives of EU foreign policy, MEPs say. They urge the EU to suspend any negotiations on a renewed partnership with Baku, and should the situation not improve, consider suspending the application of the EU visa facilitation agreement with Azerbaijan.

Parliament also calls on the EU to reduce its dependency on Azeri gas imports and, in the event of military aggression or significant hybrid attacks against Armenia, for a full EU import stop of Azeri oil and gas.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1121270.html?fbclid=IwAR0VwgEJIU0OxP9mMupGZz6KpHDij9tfJz6ZM07De1j8d8wO2mwAR2Gu7zY

 

 

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Azerbaijan can’t have territorial demands towards Armenia – EU’s Michel tells Aliyev

15:54, 5 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. President of the European Council Charles Michel has said that during his latest phone call with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev he demanded the latter to guarantee a mutual recognition of territorial integrity between Baku and Yerevan and told Aliyev that he ‘can’t have territorial demands towards Armenia,’ TASS reports.

“I spoke with President Aliyev two days ago and I clearly told him that he can’t have territorial demands towards Armenia,” TASS quoted Michel as saying in Granada ahead of the European Political Community summit. “This must be said out loud, and it must be guaranteed that it exists [mutual recognition of territorial integrity between Armenia and Azerbaijan],’ Michel said.

“I am not going to publicly comment on Aliyev’s decision not to come to Granada, I will personally tell him what I think about that,” he added.

Charles Michel said that the EU mediation between Armenia and Azerbaijan is aimed at protecting the EU’s interests and advancing European values in the Caucasus.

“We weren’t particularly active in the Caucasus until we started this mediation. These mediation efforts by the EU mean that we are protecting our interest, we are advancing our values in this region,” Michel said.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1121280.html?fbclid=IwAR0edb6u03VoWVz-kRyHnSnXhxgjA6uH0phspOTpQKYSCkEMAZdqV4xx-OU

[Yervant1]

Oct 6 2023

Azerbaijan takes control of Nagorno-Karabakh: “The complete destruction of an ancient Christian culture”

About 100,000 have crossed the border into Armenia. The World Evangelical Alliance is concerned about the blockade of humanitarian aid in the region.

JONATÁN SORIANO , EVANGELICAL FOCUS

The dissolution of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic will take place on 1 January 2024, after the takeover of the territory by Azerbaijan.

This has led to the displacement of about 100,000 Armenians living in the region (including 29,000 children), most of them of Christian background, to Armenia, leaving behind their homes and possessions, to seek refuge.

According to the United Nations mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, “between 50 and 1,000 Armenians remain in the region”. No material damage or traces of violence against the civilian population, the UN added.

On the other hand, the Armenian government, which some accuse of handing over the territory to Azerbaijan, stated that “the flow of people has mostly stopped and only officials and a limited number of the population remain in the territory”.

The final takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan comes barely a year after the latest escalation of violence in the conflict, which led to the Azeri army taking final control of the region.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian assured that “if the [Russian] peacekeepers have proposed a peace agreement, it means that they fully accept the responsibility to ensure the security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and provide them with the conditions and rights to live safely on their lands and in their homes”.

From Baku, President Ilham Aliyev expressed his surprise at the Armenian executive's reaction and pointed out that “they have shown unexpected political competence".

A long-standing conflict with international interests

The territory of Nagorno-Karabakh had come under Armenian control, like the self-proclaimed largely Armenian-populated Artsakh Republic, after clashes with Azerbaijan between 1988 to 1994.

A new episode of violence in October 2020 reignited the conflict, until both sides signed a peace agreement favourable to Baku, which regained control of much of the territory.

At least 6,500 people were killed in that new escalation of violence.

However, peace lasted until September 2022, when Armenia accused Azerbaijan of shelling towns near its border, such as Goris and Vardenis, while the Azeris accused the Armenians of “subversive acts”.

The new confrontations ended months later with a clear military victory for Azerbaijan, which secured control of the region.

The Azeri government has now raised the pressure to the point of forcing the dissolution of the political entity that had been formed to govern the Armenian-controlled territory.

According to the head of the Evangelical Peace and Reconciliation Network (PRN), Johannes Reimer, “the conflict in Ukraine is occupying all our attention and Azerbaijan is delivering the badly needed gas”. This leads to “this window of opportunity president Aliev uses, to solve the ancient problem of the Armenian enclave in his country once for ever”, Reimer adds.

The small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh has become a major player in world geopolitics. “Azerbaijan is needed for gas delivery and Turkey uses the Armenian union with Russia as an argument”, Reimer told Spanish news website Protestante Digital.

WEA concerns

Earlier, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) had expressed concern at the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council over the blockade of humanitarian aid in the territory.

“We call on the government of Azerbaijan to immediately lift the blockade and to allow for unimpeded access to food, medicine and fuel”, said Wissam al-Saliby, representative of the WEA at the UN in Geneva.

Religious motivations?

In addition to the socio-political content of the conflict, which argues that one of the causes is that Nagorno-Karabakh was a region populated mostly by Armenians on Azerbaijani territory, Reimer also sees a religious component to the conflict.

Armenia is a traditionally Christian nation bordering other Muslim-majority countries, such as Turkey and Azerbaijan itself.

One of the tragic historical episodes that has gained diplomatic prominence lately is the genocide of Christian Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

“We see the complete destruction of an ancient Christian culture”, stresses Reimer.

For the head of the PRN, “this is an ethno-political conflict in the first place, but deeply interwoven with religious issues. Yes, Christians [Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh] are being persecuted”.

https://evangelicalfocus.com/europe/23847/azerbaijan-takes-control-of-nagorno-karabakh-the-complete-destruction-of-an-ancient-christian-culture

[Yervant1]

• Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2023 22:04:52 +0300

 

First Post, India

Oct 7 2023

 

French Mayor removes Ukraine flag from city hall after phone call between Zelenskyy and Azerbaijan Prez Aliyev

 

The Ukrainian flag had been hoisted at the city hall to express solidarity with Kyiv. However, after the call, the mayor argued it was contradictory to 'claim Western values and request Western assistance' while supporting Azerbaijan and 'ethnic cleansing' of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh

The mayor of Vienne, a city in south-eastern France, has removed the Ukrainian flag from the city hall after an “unacceptable” phone conversation between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev.

Initially, the Ukrainian flag had been hoisted at the city hall to express solidarity with Kyiv for the war in Ukraine. However, Thierry Kovacs argued that it was contradictory to “claim Western values and request Western assistance” while supporting Azerbaijan and what he referred to as the “ethnic cleansing” of ethnic-Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“This doesn’t diminish Vienne’s support for the Ukrainian people, but we cannot oppose a totalitarian regime in the name of European values while simultaneously endorsing another dictatorial and brutal regime. It’s a matter of consistency, ” said the mayor in a Facebook post on Thursday.

The phone call between Presidents Zelensky and Aliyev had reportedly included expressions of gratitude from Zelenskyy for Azerbaijan’s “significant humanitarian assistance,” with both leaders reaffirming their commitment to the principles of state sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Last month, Azerbaijan regained control of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh during a brief “counterterrorism” operation. Nagorno-Karabakh, primarily populated by ethnic-Armenians, had declared independence from Baku in the early 1990s, but this declaration was not recognised by any country, including Armenia.

Despite assurances from Baku about protecting civilians, over 100,000 Armenians, approximately 90 per cent of Nagorno-Karabakh’s estimated population, fled the region after a ceasefire was reached in late September.

https://www.firstpost.com/world/french-mayor-removes-ukraine-flag-from-city-hall-after-phone-call-between-zelenskyy-and-azerbaijan-prez-aliyev-13215592.html

[Yervant1]

• Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2023 22:36:17 +0300

 

Le Monde, France

Oct 4 2023

 

Azerbaijan reissues Nagorno-Karabakh map with street named after Turkish leader of 1915 Armenian genocide

At the same time, Baku is trying to convince the international community that it will respect the rights of Armenians wishing to remain in the enclave.

By Faustine Vincent

Two weeks after the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh following a lightning-fast military offensive, on Tuesday, October 3, Azerbaijan re-issued a map of the capital of the former Armenian separatist enclave (Stepanakert in Armenian, Khankendi in Azerbaijani), with street names in Azerbaijani. One of these streets is named after Turkish military officer Enver *****, one of the main instigators of the Armenian genocide of 1915. The map was first published in August 2021.

The map is re-issued at a time when Baku is intensifying its efforts to convince the international community that it will respect the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians wishing to remain in the enclave.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has promised a "peaceful reintegration" and to turn the region into a "paradise." "Equal rights and freedoms for all, including security for all, are guaranteed regardless of ethnicity, religion or language," his government said again on October 2.

Read more Article réservé à nos abonnés Azerbaijan launched major offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh

The start of the integration process had been formally announced the day before, on October 1. The Azerbaijani media widely broadcast a video of two people said to be Armenians who are choosing to stay and live in Nagorno-Karabakh under Azerbaijani rule. The actual identities and backgrounds of these two individuals are unknown.

 

'How can we imagine living with them?'

If Armenians do remain in Nagorno-Karabakh, it would provide Azerbaijan with an opportunity to showcase its "peaceful reintegration." It could also provide Russia with an excuse to keep its 2,000 or so peacekeepers in the region, which have been deployed there since the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020. However, among the refugees that Le Monde met in Armenia, not a single one believes in the possibility of a "peaceful reintegration," or

[the remainder needs subscription]

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/10/04/azerbaijan-reissues-map-of-nagorno-karabakh-with-street-named-after-turkish-leader-of-1915-armenian-genocide_6146889_4.html

[Yervant1]

Reuters

Oct 8 2023

Any new Armenia conflict would be France's fault, Azerbaijan's president says

Reuters

• Summary

• Azerbaijan scolds France


• Aliyev visits Georgia


• Armenian envoy: Azerbaijan will invade soon

MOSCOW, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's president scolded the European Union and warned that France's decision to send military aid to Armenia could trigger a new conflict in the South Caucasus after a lightening Azerbaijani military operation last month.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev last week pulled out of an EU-brokered meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at which Brussels said it was standing by Armenia.

But Aliyev criticised the EU's approach - and particularly France's position - when European Council, Charles Michel, telephoned him, according to an Azerbaijani statement issued late on Saturday.

President Ilham Aliyev said "that due to the well-known position of France, Azerbaijan did not participate in the meeting in Granada," the Azerbaijani presidential office said.

"The head of state emphasized that the provision of weapons by France to Armenia was an approach that was not serving peace, but one intended to inflate a new conflict, and if any new conflict occurs in the region, France would be responsible for causing it."

France has agreed on future contracts with Armenia to supply it with military equipment to help ensure its defences, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Oct. 3 during a visit to Yerevan.

She declined to elaborate on what sort of military aid was envisaged for Armenia under future supply contracts. French President Emmanuel Macron scolded Azerbaijan, saying that Baku appeared to have a problem with international law.

Aliyev restored control over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh last month with a 24-hour military operation which triggered the exodus of most of the territory's 120,000 ethnic Armenians to Armenia.

Aliyev said he had acted in accordance with international law, adding that eight villages in Azerbaijan were "still under Armenian occupation, and stressed the importance of liberating these villages from occupation."

The Azerbaijani president visited Georgia on Sunday and thanked Tbilisi for offering to mediate for a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

But an Armenian envoy said he feared Azerbaijan could invade within weeks.

"We are now under imminent threat of invasion," the Armenian ambassador-designate to the EU, Tigran Balayan, told Brussels Signal.

Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Guy Faulconbridge

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/azerbaijans-president-says-france-will-be-blame-if-new-conflict-starts-with-2023-10-08/

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Armenpress.am

Armenian community of Argentina condemns ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh in demonstration outside Azeri embassy

15:35, 9 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. On October 7, the Armenian community of Argentina organized a demonstration outside the Azeri embassy to condemn the genocide perpetrated against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

President of the Armenian Organizations of Argentina (IARA) Alejandro Kalpakian read the address by the Armenian community condemning the Azeri ethnic cleansings of the Armenian civilian population of NK.

In his speech, Kalpakian quoted Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who said that the Azeri actions in NK amount to genocide.

The Armenian community of Argentina also called for the immediate release of unlawfuly arrested NK officials and other captives.

“Our presence here today is a bright example that we will continue to struggle against the genocide, continuous extermination and persecutions of the Armenian people perpetrated by Turkey, which today is implemented by Azerbaijan,” Kalpakian said.

 

 

 

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Armenpress.am

Azeri enclave narrative has no legal grounds, says cartographer

14:43, 9 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani narrative that it has enclaves inside Armenia is void of any legal grounds, cartographer Ruben Galichyan has said.

Azerbaijan itself has stated in its independence declaration that it is the successor of the 1918-1920 Azerbaijan, and back then no enclaves existed.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has again falsely claimed that eight enclaves are “under Armenian occupation” which must be “liberated”.

Speaking at a press conference, Galichyan showed a 1926 Soviet map verified by the then-ministry of interior, which doesn’t show any enclaves, neither in Armenian nor Azeri territories. Furthermore, territories with an area of 1,200 square kilometers of the Armenian SSR stipulated in this map were later handed over to the Azeri SSR. The Aghavno River was the only division line between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh by that map. More adjacent areas where then handed over to Azeri control.

Moreover, a 1932 map also shows no enclaves.

These enclaves first appeared in a 1940 map, two in Tavush, one in Ararat, and Artsvashen in Azerbaijan. Although these enclaves were drawn up, no documents pertaining to these areas exist, i.e., there’s no legal ground proving their stipulation.

And despite this, in 2014 Azerbaijan published an atlas, showing enclaves located in Armenian territory, but without any note of Artsvashen.

“Two years ago, the Azeri foreign ministry said that if Armenia claims the enclaves to be its territory it should present an official document. But basically, this is a contrary approach, because since these territories are within Armenia, thus they belong to Armenia. And if Azerbaijan has any aspirations for these territories, then it is the one that should present legal grounds, which, basically, do not exist. By the way, the total area of the three enclaves located in our territory is 45 square kilometers, whereas Artsvashen alone is 44 square kilometers. Two years ago, speaking about the topic of enclaves, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke about exchanging them, which is the required path for resolving the issue,” the cartographer said.

If Azerbaijan intends to sign any treaty, it must first of all return to Armenia the territories that it captured since 2021, which include around 240 square kilometers, Galichyan said.

According to the USSR general staff, the representatives of the Armenian and Azeri SSRs ratified the maps in 1960-1970s, which was the basis for the 1991 Alma-Ata declaration. But now Azerbaijan is circulating fake maps.

The territories occupied by Azerbaijan are recognized as sovereign Armenian territory by Azerbaijan itself under the 1991 declaration.

“If the Azerbaijani side is not withdrawing from individual parts of our country’s sovereign territory, then how should we negotiate? The long-term goals of Azerbaijan are clear. If they were to have enclaves in Armenian territory, they would then demand a corridor to have land connection with the enclaves, which would have the same role as the so-called Zangezur corridor. On the other hand, it is clearly visible that the Azeri enclaves are on strategically significant highways, and if these were to be connected with Azerbaijan through [extraterritorial] corridors, Armenia would lose its direct connection with its southern provinces, and the Ijevan-Noyemberyan road would be cut off in the north,” the cartographer said.

And now Azerbaijan is hinting that it wants to take over these territories by force.

He warned that any concessions would simply make Azerbaijan want more.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1121530.html?fbclid=IwAR19VWwUpAuyzH6jN_NRnbRomM1dR8XQjYB2_QkRquIdLg2t__rOvKqu7OE

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Armenpress.am

Secretary of Security Council briefs foreign experts on Azerbaijan’s policy of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh

13:26, 10 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan on Tuesday met with representatives of Friends of Armenia, Rasmussen Global and the European Council on Foreign Relations think tanks and consultancy groups.

Grigoryan presented the regional security situation and particularly the security environment and threats around Armenia, as well as the policy of ethnic cleansing carried out by Azerbaijan against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, Grigoryan’s office said in a readout.

The course of partnership in the Armenia-EU relations was also discussed, and the opportunities for further developing it was highlighted.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1121608.html?fbclid=IwAR2Yfsel-f3TLt02VJxEl53JNUftBf-_Fi-cDMBsV875qDPPkOPW8Vmr5uI