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Baku Seeks More Armenian Concessions

Սեպտեմբեր 02, 2024
 
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Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov speaks to the media during a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock following their talks in Baku, November 4, 2023.
 

Azerbaijan’s leadership has essentially rejected Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s offer to sign soon a framework peace deal and demanded more concessions from Yerevan.

A senior Azerbaijani official indicated Armenia must not only change its constitution but also downsize its armed forces.

Pashinian said on Saturday that the two countries already fully agree on 13 of the 17 articles of a draft peace treaty discussed them.

“We propose to sign and ratify what has been agreed at this point and to continue discussing all remaining issues,” he told reporters. He said the agreed provisions cover “all basic principles of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said on Monday that Baku received fresh peace proposals from Yerevan reflecting Pashinian’s offer just hours before the Armenian premier met the press.

“Several important points were left out of the text presented by them,” Azerbaijani news agencies quoted Bayramov as saying. “Their draft treaty does not include important provisions and we were told that this is the problem’s solution [proposed by Yerevan.] In the context of the past historical conflict, every provision of the peace treaty is very important. Our advice to the Armenian side is to approach these issues more seriously.”

Bayramov as well as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, reiterated Baku’s demands for a change of Armenia’s constitution which they say contains territorial claims to Azerbaijan.

“Until this changes, we will see serious problems in negotiating a peace treaty between the two states,” Hajiyev told reporters on Sunday. He dismissed Pashinian’s assertion that it is the Azerbaijani constitution that lays claim to Armenian territory.

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a news conference in Yerevan, August 31, 2024.
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a news conference in Yerevan, August 31, 2024.

Hajiyev also said that “restrictions should be imposed to the armed forces of Armenia.” The international community has slapped such sanctions on other “aggressor states” such as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, he said. Bayramov likewise complained about what he called Armenia’s “intensive” military buildup, saying it poses another hurdle to peace.

Hajiyev said Yerevan should also end the European Union’s monitoring mission along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan launched in February 2023. He argued that Baku and Yerevan reached on Friday a fresh agreement on the border’s delimitation.

Meanwhile, Armenian opposition leaders denounced Pashinian’s offer to sign a partial peace deal with Azerbaijan, saying that it would not commit Baku to recognizing Armenia’s borders. They claimed that Pashinian is desperate to sign even such an incomplete document in hopes of misleading Armenians into thinking that he has achieved peace and thus increasing his chances of holding on to power.

Opposition groups had similarly condemned Pashinian for ceding several disputed border areas to Azerbaijan this spring. They said the land transfer will only encourage Baku to demand more Armenian concessions.

Aliyev renewed his demands for a change of the Armenian constitution shortly after the announcement of the unilateral transfer. In July, he again described much of modern-day Armenia as “western Azerbaijan” and said Yerevan must ensure the safe return of ethnic Azerbaijanis who had fled it in the late 1980s.

 

 

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Keghart
Sept 3 2024
 
 

TAAL Statement About Azerbaijan Hosting UN’s COP29

Truth And Accountability League (TAAL) Statement Regarding the United Nations’ Decision to Allow Azerbaijan to Host its Upcoming Climate Conference, COP29

TAAL Strongly Condemns the United Nations for Hosting COP29 in the Authoritarian State of Azerbaijan and Calls the UN to Move the Conference to Another Nation

His Excellency Mr. António Guterres
Secretary-General
United Nations
New York, NY 10017

Your Excellency,

Truth And Accountability League (TAAL) condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the United Nations’ decision to hold its Climate Conference, COP29, in Azerbaijan, an authoritarian state with an appalling human rights record, environmental reputation, and complete disregard for International law.

Allowing a totalitarian country to host a United Nations event constitutes deliberate complicity by the UN and participating nations in the genocidal acts perpetrated against the Armenian nation by the Azerbaijani government, the propagation of falsified historical narratives, the misappropriation and erasure of the cultural and religious heritage of the Armenian people, and the policy of deceit by the Azerbaijani leadership to gain support from international organizations and governments to achieve its goal of the ‘Final Solution’ to the existence of Armenia.

By this blatantly interest-driven act, the UN ignores Azerbaijan’s campaigns of hate, violence, and disinformation against the Armenian people and its ambition to destroy the democratic Republic of Armenia and fulfill its pan-Turkic ambitions, appeasing tactical partners who have an interest in Armenia’s strategic position connecting Europe to the Middle East.

Azerbaijan has steadily slipped down the international rankings regarding respecting democratic principles and freedom of _expression_ over the last 20 years. Notably, Azerbaijan went from a score of 6 (in 2005) to 7 (in 2016), then considered the worst on the index concerning political rights and civil liberties established by the American NGO Freedom House, joining the category of repressive dictatorships such as Iran, Myanmar, and North Korea. Since 2017, Azerbaijan has continued to fall in the Freedom House rankings, passing on the adopted new form of calculation formula, going from a score of 14 out of 100 to 7 out of 100 in 2024.

According to Freedom House, the Power in Azerbaijan’s authoritarian regime remains heavily concentrated in the hands of Ilham Aliyev and his extended family, who has served as president since 2003. Corruption is rampant, and years of persecution have weakened formal political opposition. The authorities have carried out an extensive crackdown on civil liberties in recent years, leaving little room for independent _expression_ or activism.

The Aliyev government has also recently become more radical in its ideology. ‘The regime is more nationalistic and militaristic than it was in the past. It no longer has any restraint,’ says political scientist Bahruz Samadov of Charles University in Prague.

This new paradigm is perfectly illustrated by the recently created Military Trophies Park in the capital city of Baku, where military equipment confiscated from Armenian forces is displayed, along with the helmets of slain enemy fighters and wax figures with caricatured features representing Armenian soldiers. Several observers have described the displays as ‘dehumanizing.’

The UN climate change summits are yearly meetings of government, climate, and industry representatives at which governments discuss how to prevent and prepare for climate change.

Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Genocide

On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey, orchestrated a new genocidal attack and ethnic cleansing against the civilian indigenous Armenians of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

With arms, intelligence, training, and game-changing weapons from Israel, the two regional powers recruited and brought to Azerbaijan ISIS, Syrian, Libyan, and Pakistani jihadist mercenaries to slaughter Armenians and to carry out a wide-scale ethnic cleansing. The mercenaries were promised $2,000 a month to kill Armenians and $100 bonuses for every Armenian beheaded alive.

For nine months, starting in December 2022, Azerbaijan illegally blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia and the rest of the world, to starve 120,000 Armenians. Despite provisions and calls from nations, international bodies, and human rights organizations to open the corridor, including from the International Court of Justice, the United States Congress, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, Aliyev’s regime defied and doubled down, with frequent offensives on the population of Artsakh.

Between September 19 and 20, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a 24-hour military operation against Artsakh. Azerbaijani military forces initiated both a ground offensive and aerial bombing of the region, seizing nearly one hundred local military posts in the process. Officials reported that 200 people died in the attack, and 400 were wounded. At least ten civilian deaths were reported, including five children, as a result of the operation. Within a day, the Azerbaijani military advanced within two kilometers of Stepanakert, the republic’s capital, while simultaneously engaging in heavy shelling of the city.

By forcing people to flee to Armenia with its deadly offensive, Azerbaijan succeeded in ethnically cleansing Artsakh of its indigenous Armenian population.

Azerbaijan Laundromat, Caviar Diplomacy, Crime, and Violation of International Law 

Since the country’s independence in 1991, the Azerbaijan Laundromat has leveraged Azerbaijan’s extensive gas reserves to place a gag order on world leaders, regimes, and organizations with caviar diplomacy, blackmail, and violence.

The Azerbaijani Laundromat is a complex money-laundering scheme organized by Azerbaijan that was revealed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). In two years, Azerbaijan siphoned about USD $2.9 billion through European companies and banks. The money was used to pay off Western politicians in an attempt to whitewash Azerbaijan’s reputation abroad.

Foreign relations also show the falsity of Azerbaijan’s public relations. Azerbaijan is a proxy of Turkey and an ally of Russia, the world’s two most irredentist countries. Its trade with Iran is a choice, not a necessity.

Media Manipulations and Propaganda

Journalists are also subject to surveillance. In 2021, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported that Azerbaijani journalists were among those targeted with the Pegasus spyware tool, which was likely supplied to the Azerbaijani government.

Since 2003, when Ilham Aliyev inherited the presidency from his father, corruption has flourished, civil liberties have been destroyed, and political opposition has been suppressed, leaving no room for freedom of _expression_ and civic engagement. Journalists are harassed, blackmailed, and subjected to bribery attempts. if they resist, they are imprisoned. Those who leave the country and their families are persecuted.

While arrests of protesters are commonplace in Azerbaijan, in recent months, at least six independent journalists have been detained, with some warning of a crackdown on independent media.

Over the years, Amnesty International and other human rights groups have documented the widespread abuse by the Azerbaijani authorities of the criminal justice system to crack down on human rights, including the right to freedom of _expression_, often detaining and falsely charging their critics with economic crimes.

Azerbaijan is facing a worrying wave of arrests and repression against independent journalists and media outlets. Since November 2023, 10 journalists have been detained, according to Agence France Presse (AFP). The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) strongly condemns the crackdown on media freedom as new arrests have occurred recently.

Corruption reaches the Council of Europe

Azerbaijan is also one of the most corrupt countries in the world. In 2023, Transparency International ranked it 154th out of 180 countries. The organization writes in its report that corruption “erodes various levels of society and state while undermining civic and political rights.” Thus, it contributes significantly to Aliyev’s hold on power.

Bribery has also been deliberately deployed by Baku outside the country — including of officials associated with the Council of Europe, an international organization that upholds human rights and the rule of law but is not affiliated with the European Union.

Azerbaijan has been a member since 2001. In 2012, Baku was revealed to have hosted up to 40 officials from the Council of Europe annually, showering them with expensive gifts. With this ‘caviar diplomacy,’ Aliyev was trying to buy favorable assessments of his country’s human rights situation.

Environmental Fail 

Oil and gas exports account for about 90 percent of Azerbaijan’s exports and 60 percent of the state budget. According to the International Energy Agency, oil and gas account for more than 98 percent of Azerbaijan’s total energy supply. Moreover, despite its rhetoric about managing environmental impacts, Azerbaijan’s flagship state-owned energy company, SOCAR, holds one of the lowest places in the Oil and Gas Benchmark Ranking of the World Benchmarking Alliance.

Azerbaijan has failed to uphold its climate commitments as ratified in the 2016 Paris Climate Accord.

Protests in June against the reported pollution of lakes in Azerbaijan by mining companies were fiercely suppressed, with protesters beaten and arrested, journalists barred from covering the protests, and Soyudlu village remaining under police blockade almost six months later.

Zhala Bayramova, a human rights lawyer and the daughter of detained politician and economist Gubad Ibadoghlutold OC Media that Azerbaijan’s government’s claims regarding its efforts to combat climate change and its protection of human rights were ‘baseless’.

‘When we look at political prisoners and the inhumane conditions that they are kept in, it is very evident that Azerbaijan’s claims are misleading’, said Bayramova. ‘My father advocated for the open and accountable management of oil, gas, and mineral resources. He lost his job at the Economic State University for that.’

Bayramova added that Azerbaijan ‘does not even allow anybody to monitor climate change’, or the effects of oil, gas, and mineral extraction.

‘That shows itself in the arrest of environmental defenders like Nazim Bederbeyli, people being threatened with losing their jobs like my father, and also restrictions on people monitoring and filming oil and gas drills’, said Bayramova. She added that the government had recently cracked down on civil society and journalists ‘so that their false and unbiased claims cannot be disproven.’

Human Rights Catastrophe 

Accompanying Baku’s reliance on fossil fuels is its abysmal human rights record. In its ‘Freedom in the World 2024’ report, Freedom House categorizes Azerbaijan as ‘not free,’ scoring 7 out of 100 — lower than Somalia and Saudi Arabia. Political rights are practically nonexistent. Issues related to freedom have turned for the worse after Baku’s ethnic cleansing of Armenians from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Several independent journalists are experiencing a crackdown while being accused of undermining President Ilham Aliyev’s government.

Azerbaijan’s environmental and anti-corruption activists have been affected by government repression. In the past year, reports have circulated of Azerbaijani police having detained, beaten, threatened, or obstructed the work of several journalists reporting on environmental protests. Among them is Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu, a scholar and political activist who focused on the fossil fuel sector by frequently questioning why Azerbaijan’s vast fossil fuel resources have not been invested in making the country more prosperous and democratic.

Additionally, he argued that relying on Azerbaijani gas as an alternative to Russian supplies was ‘unrealistic’, that Azerbaijan misrepresented data, and that it would ultimately resell Russian gas to Europe.

In 2023, Ibadoghlu published a paper titled ‘New Gas Deal with Azerbaijan for Europe’s Energy Security: Aspiration and Reality,’ which questioned European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s characterization of Azerbaijan as a ‘reliable and trustworthy partner.’ He argues that Azerbaijan is quite unreliable as a business partner, as the country ranks extremely low on Transparency International’s corruption index, placed lower than Russia.

Ibadoghlu was arbitrarily and violently arrested in 2023, along with his wife, who was later released. In his detention, Ibadoghlu, like other Azeri political prisoners, has been subjected to inhumane treatment. ‘Conditions in the detention facilities are atrocious,’ he wrote to his family. Ibadoghlu’s health has rapidly deteriorated as Azerbaijani authorities have denied him essential treatment for severe medical conditions.

Members of the U.S. Congress and European Parliament have condemned the treatment of Ibadoghlu and demanded his release, but there are no signs that he will be released anytime soon.

Domestic Oppression

UN’s façade is also economic. While Baku – or at least those areas around its historic center and the Caspian Sea are beautiful, polished, and reflect great affluence, the capital’s slums and villages reflect a different reality, with ramshackle, corrugated metal houses and mudbrick huts devoid of electricity. International organizations reflect this with dry financial statistics. According to the International Monetary Fund, oil-rich Azerbaijan will again 2024 have a lower per-capita income than Armenia, a country with few natural resources and under a decades-long double blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey. The only explanation for such discrepancy is corruption, as Aliyev and his cronies siphon off billions of dollars.

Baku’s sin is not just its environmental record but its authoritarian treatment of its citizens, including environmental activists and protesters. COP29 must not be allowed to be a prestige-building opportunity for a regime that continues to silence the voices of its free thinkers.

Since late 2023, when Azerbaijan was nominated to host COP29, the government has stepped up efforts to stifle dissent. At least 25 journalists have been detained, including six who attempted to cover a June 2023 protest by villagers against the expansion of a nearby tailings pond by a gold mining company, Anglo Asian Mining. Locals suspect the reservoir’s toxic material contaminates water and soil, which the firm denies. Its Iranian-American chief executive is reputedly close to President Ilham Aliyev.

In December 2023, a snap presidential election was scheduled for February 2024, one year early. Some analysts suggested that Aliyev called the vote in order to consolidate public support after the successful military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh. The top two opposition parties, the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP) and Musavat, said they would boycott the election; the APFP chair called the planned poll ‘fakery in the name of elections, which is an imitation of democracy.’

Neither the president nor members of parliament are freely or fairly elected, and the parliament cannot meaningfully check the powerful presidency. Lawmakers and lower-level elected officials carry out the instructions of the ruling party.

Corruption is pervasive. Without a free press and independent judiciary, officials are held accountable for corrupt behavior only when it suits the needs of a more powerful or well-connected figure. Investigative reports published by foreign media in recent years have revealed evidence that members of the Aliyev family have used their positions to amass large private fortunes.

Ahead of an early snap presidential election in February this year, the number of reporters jailed or detained ticked up further in Azerbaijan. Civil society groups estimate that more than 300 political prisoners are being held. Some family members have been subjected to physical abuse, while others have had their funds frozen.

Azerbaijan ranks among the lowest globally — 158 out of 180 — on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, while Reporters Without Borders puts it at 167th out of 180, between Egypt and Bahrain.

In April, on his return to Azerbaijan after speaking at the Human Rights Council’s last session about the country’s rights violations, Anar Mammadli, a member of the COP29 Climate Justice Initiative, was jailed on trumped-up “smuggling” charges.

Concern over press coverage in Baku has also been rising since Western journalists refused entry to an energy summit in June, which President Aliyev opened.

Arzu Geybulla, an independent Azerbaijani journalist, wrote that the decision was a gift to the authorities despite their relentless crackdown on independent media and government critics.

According to the Union for the Liberation of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan Siyasi Məhbusların Azadlığı Uğrunda İttifaq), the number of political prisoners in the country rose from 80 to 253 between February and December 2023 and shows no signs of slowing down: the group’s latest count published in mid-March lists 288 names.

Contradiction and Defiance 

Representatives of the Azerbaijani government say they want this summit to be a ‘Peace Summit.’ This is when it has not even been a year since they invaded a neighboring country, and they have yet to reach the acceptance of a just peace agreement or show any real intention to move in that direction. Azerbaijan continues to hold political prisoners and fails to improve the human rights situation. Just recently, Amnesty International called on the UN to ensure that the Azerbaijani authorities protect the international rights to freedom of _expression_ and peaceful assembly for all participating in the COP.

In Conclusion 

COP29 is being hosted in an authoritarian petrostate with a shocking record of human rights violations, including clamping down on environmental protests and arresting journalists.

At the Bonn Climate Conference in June last year, states highlighted the importance of including human rights in Host Country Agreements at climate COPs and said HCAs should be made public.

Unless Azerbaijan not only commits but takes the following steps immediately before the conference, we call on the United Nations to stay true to its principles and move COP29 to a different country.

  • Recognize the Artsakh Genocide
  • Recognize the Republic of Artsakh
  • Allow Artsakh Armenians to return to their native land
  • Guarantee the security of Artsakh
  • Make reparations to the people of Artsakh for war crimes and crimes      against humanity
  • Release all Armenian hostages and those kidnapped from prison
  • Release all political prisoners and journalists from prison      regardless of nationality

Azerbaijan’s proposal for a truce during COP29 rings hollow unless the above-mentioned conditions are met unequivocally.

The 2023 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report on Azerbaijan states that there are ‘arbitrary detentions and serious problems with the independence of the judiciary,’ making an unconditional return of Armenian hostages and release of political prisoners the only viable path to justice.

It is not enough for the UN to discuss international law principles; it must enforce them uniformly across all nations. Rogue nations with vast fossil fuel should not be given a pass. Otherwise, it undermines the UN and damages the credibility of the Climate Change Conference.

The United Nations’ response to the Artsakh Genocide was nothing short of a ‘carte blanche’ for Azerbaijan to commit its calculated crimes against humanity by annihilating the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh from their ancestral homeland through slaughter, starvation, and terror.

Today, the UN stands at a crossroads that will determine whether it is an organization that caters to criminal states or continues to uphold some of its most relevant foundational principles of ensuring the protection of human rights, environmental responsibility, and anti-corruption policies. These policies stand in stark contrast with the UN’s decision to hold the COP2 conference in a country that blatantly tramples them, as it confidently showcases the complicity of the UN in its pursuit of global and regional criminal activities.

What will the legacy of the United Nations be in the aftermath of its decision to hold the COP2 in Azerbaijan?   What will be the need for the UN to exist once it formally establishes itself as the corruptible entity complicit in upholding governments that engage in the very heinous crimes that it was established to protect nations from?  CHOOSE WISELY AND BY YOUR OWN PROCLAIMED PRINCIPLES!

Truth And Accountability League (TAAL)

About TAAL

TAAL is a 501©3 non-profit advocacy organization founded in 2020 due to a significant increase in anti-Armenian racism, defamation, hate crimes, and Armenophobia. We monitor and confront bias, disinformation, propaganda, and slander of the Armenian people and culture at the media level, including social media, academics, intelligentsia, and public policy.

Contact

Vic Gerami
Founder + Chair
Truth And Accountability League
TruthAndAccountabilityLeague.org
310.880.8563
vic@thebluntpost.com

 

https://keghart.org/taal-statement-az-hosting-cop29/

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Top Buzz Times
Sept 3 2024
 
 

Turkish general warns Armenia: ‘Resistance will be very tough!’

 
September 3, 2024

There is an antagonism between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statements on peace and the policy of establishing new military units on the conventional border with Azerbaijan and actively purchasing weapons and military equipment. What happened shows that Yerevan has a hidden agenda regarding the negotiation process.

These words Oku.AzMajor General Yücel Karauz, former military attaché of Turkey in our country, said in his statement.

The general stressed that Armenia is facing a historic choice and will face serious consequences if it does not sign the peace agreement.

“Armenia, as always, makes different and contradictory statements. On the one hand, Pashinyan presents himself to the West as a dove of peace, but on the other hand, along with rapid armament, he builds new military units on the conventional border, falsifies and exaggerates information about Azerbaijan’s armament. Of course, what happened raises serious questions. Armenia is the third country with the largest number of soldiers in the world. They have increased their military budget by 46%. In a small country with so many soldiers, the Iranian official serves the realization of the goals of the European Political Union. Now he says that he is ready to meet with Ilham Aliyev on the border and that it is an attempt to win back Azerbaijan’s head and buy time. In a suitable way for the benefit of the West. I call Armenia from here. No one can play with the state mentality of Azerbaijan and Turkey. Turkey is always with Azerbaijan. Do not forget the Shusha Declaration. If they do not sign the peace agreement, they will have to face very serious consequences as a nation and as a nation.” as a State”.

Sohrab Ismail

https://topbuzztimes.com/turkish-general-warns-armenia-resistance-will-be-very-tough/

 
 
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Armenpress.am

 

EU records serious violations in Azerbaijan parliamentary elections

 

EU records serious violations in Azerbaijan parliamentary elections

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. The diplomatic service of the European Union, referring to the parliamentary elections held in Azerbaijan, stated that they took place in a restrictive political and legal environment that hindered genuine pluralism and resulted in a lack of competition.

“Early parliamentary elections took place in the Republic of Azerbaijan on 1 September.

According to the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, the election took place within a restrictive political and legal environment that did not enable genuine pluralism and resulted in a contest devoid of competition,” reads the statement issued by the service.

The European Union's statement also noted that  that  despite a voting process that was orderly and assessed to be overall efficiently run, serious irregularities and omissions of important safeguards were observed, particularly in the vote count, raising questions about the integrity of the process.

 The OSCE/ODIHR mission further noted that the elections took place against the background of continued repression of dissenting voices.

“The European Union calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to take on board and implement the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations in relation to these and previous elections. The EU stands ready to assist in this process,” the statement concludes.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1198943?fbclid=IwY2xjawFE4K9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYMYHZtogWxq79a-6ynewPWxjlV43hOxgXjvUJjOCDnB94657rDOP8aqHw_aem_CTI54_uYqGV9zIpdOxNPcA

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Azatutyun.am

 

Azerbaijan Accused Of ‘Torpedoing Peace Process’

Սեպտեմբեր 03, 2024
 
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Armenia- Parliament deputy Arusyak Julhakian at a news briefing in Yerevan, January 18, 2024.
 

A member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political team accused Azerbaijan on Tuesday of obstructing a resolution of the conflict with Armenia following Baku’s rejection of an interim peace deal proposed by Yerevan.

Arusyak Julhakian, an Armenian parliamentarian from the ruling Civil Contract party, charged that the Azerbaijani leadership has “once again torpedoed the peace process.”

“It’s clear that Baku constantly tries to invent excuses in order not to sign a peace treaty,” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Every time Armenia comes up with a new constructive proposal … Azerbaijan either sets yet another unfeasible condition or makes such statements. My impression is that Azerbaijan is doing all this in order to constantly delay the process and not to sign a peace treaty.”

Pashinian proposed on Saturday that the two sides sign a document containing at least 13 of the 17 articles of a draft peace treaty which he said have been fully agreed by them. He said they cover “all basic principles of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

Azerbaijan essentially rejected the offer on Monday, with Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov saying that the framework deal proposed by Yerevan lacks several “important provisions.” Bayramov and another Azerbaijani official, Himet Hajiyev, also reiterated that Armenia must change its constitution before it can make peace with Azerbaijan. In addition, Hajiyev demanded a reduction of the Armenian armed forces.

The Armenian government did not officially react as of Tuesday afternoon to Baku’s response and the new conditions apparently set by it.

Armenian opposition leaders have likewise scoffed at Pashinian’s offer to sign a partial peace deal with Azerbaijan. They claimed over the weekend that Pashinian is desperate to sign even such an incomplete document in hopes of misleading Armenians into thinking that he has achieved peace and thus increasing his chances of holding on to power.

Pashinian’s domestic critics are also very critical of his broader appeasement policy towards Azerbaijan, saying that it only encourages Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to seek more Armenian concessions.

 

 

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Armenpress.am

 

France warns its citizens to travel to Azerbaijan only if absolutely necessary

France warns its citizens to travel to Azerbaijan only if absolutely necessary

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. France has issued a travel advisory, urging its citizens to travel to Azerbaijan only if absolutely necessary due to "the risk of arrest, arbitrary detention, and unfair trials," according to a statement from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This warning follows the recent arrests of two French nationals, Martin Ryan and Clerc Théo Hugo, in Azerbaijan. Ryan faces charges of espionage, while Hugo was detained following an incident in the Baku Metro. Paris had earlier advised its citizens to avoid travel to Azerbaijan due to these developments.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1199055?fbclid=IwY2xjawFGJdtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeyi4nty8Iu34EtX1XA0EAiSFqm38V--JLUyeh6_LDgzogz3oixOj10hig_aem_CWPBXW_xMjk691uSmFnUDQ

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Sweden - Sept 3 2024
 
 

Erdoğan still ignores Azerbaijan’s discomfort with Nagorno-Karabakh war remarks

 

Levent Kenez/Stockholm

Despite Baku’s official objections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to claim Turkey’s involvement in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, which concluded with Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia. The continuing remarks by Erdogan have raised eyebrows as Baku had previously sought to emphasize its independent military capabilities during the conflict. While Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan during the war is widely recognized, the continued emphasis on Ankara’s role has sparked tensions between the two close allies.

Most recently, on August 31, during a speech at the Turkish Air Force Academy graduation ceremony, President Erdogan once again referenced the Nagorno-Karabakh War, stating, “In Azerbaijan’s Karabakh, together with our Azerbaijani brothers, we completely eliminated the enemy forces.”

Erdogan’s remarks came shortly after Azerbaijan’s official newspaper responded to previous similar statements. In an editorial published on August 1, the paper said, “Our people, army and commander view with disappointment and deep sorrow the attempts to claim and take ownership of our rightful victory. Azerbaijan’s victory is for the entire Turkic world, but Turkey is not its architect.”

“The Architect of the Karabakh Victory: Commander-in-Chief Aliyev and the Azerbaijani Army,” as stated in Azerbaijan’s official newspaper:

The editorial criticized recent statements made in Turkey, accusing them of distorting the facts of the 44-day war. It warned that such remarks play into the hands of Armenia, saying, “Our ancestors taught us that what one hand gives, the other should not know and that brothers do not boast about helping one another.” The piece further asked, “Even if we assume that Turkey provided all forms of support, including political and moral, during our Patriotic War, why should Armenia, Armenians worldwide, the US and France and other states and powers use this as a basis for manipulation?”

The editorial also expressed dismay over statements from Turkey mentioning unsolicited military aid to Azerbaijan. It emphasized that the information labeled as military aid was incorrect, stating, “All of this pertains to the commercial side of military cooperation. In other words, gentlemen, we paid for every bullet and every piece of ammunition and equipment we received!”

The editorial also addressed the involvement of Selçuk Bayraktar, President Erdogan’s son-in-law, and his company Baykar Makina, which produced the Bayraktar military drones used in the war. It noted that various examples of this cooperation were employed during the conflict. The piece highlighted that while Turkey’s Bayraktar drones were included in Azerbaijan’s robust air assault and defense systems, this technology was not the only component involved.

This article is not the first instance of Azerbaijan expressing discomfort with President Erdogan’s statements.

On July 28, during a party meeting in his hometown of Rize, Erdogan, referring to Israel, said, “Just as we entered Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we should do the same with Israel. There is nothing stopping us. We just need to be strong to take this step.”

In response to Erdogan’s comments, an official from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense addressed local media, saying, “There is no basis for claims regarding the involvement of any country’s military personnel in the battles for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” adding, “President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly expressed his gratitude to the leadership of Turkey and Pakistan for their political support. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces suffered around 3,000 casualties during the war and 204 in a single counterterrorism operation.”

 

Although Baku had conveyed its message to Turkey through the media, the following day it formally expressed its concerns through diplomatic channels. On July 29 Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Turkey, Rashad Mammadov, met with Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Mehmet Kemal Bozay to address the issue.

However, it seemed that Baku’s concerns were not addressed in Erdogan’s statements. On July 30 while criticizing Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) during a meeting with his party’s provincial chairmen in Ankara, Erdogan again said, “In our struggle to liberate Karabakh after 30 years of occupation, we received the harshest criticism from the CHP leadership. It was the CHP members who raised the Armenians’ baseless claims.”

Ambassador Mammadov then paid a visit to Deputy Foreign Minister Berris Ekinci the following day. The specific agenda of their meeting remains unclear, leaving open the possibility that it could have been related to Turkey’s purported role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan during the conflict is widely recognized, including logistical and intelligence assistance and the use of Turkish-made drones by the Azerbaijani military. Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar Makina, led by Haluk Bayraktar, was notably honored by Azerbaijani President Aliyev, who awarded the Garabagh Order to Bayraktar on June 15, 2021 for his role in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War. President Aliyev had previously awarded the same honor to Erdogan’s son-in-law Selçuk Bayraktar, co-owner of Baykar Makina, on April 1, 2021, praising the Bayraktar TB2 drones for their effectiveness in the conflict.

Additionally, on June 15, 2021,  Erdogan and Aliyev met in Shusha, a city emblematic of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, to sign the “Shusha Declaration.” This agreement, celebrated on Azerbaijan’s national day, underscores the deepening military cooperation between the two countries and Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. A key provision of the declaration is the commitment to mutual military assistance in the event of an attack or threat from a third state, highlighting the strategic alliance between Turkey and Azerbaijan.

https://nordicmonitor.com/2024/09/erdogan-still-ignores-azerbaijans-discomfort-in-nagorno-karabakh-war-remarks/

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Azatutyun.am

 

More Cargo Shipped To Azerbaijan From Israeli Air Base

Սեպտեմբեր 05, 2024
 
image.png
Israel - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, March 29, 2023.
 

An Azerbaijani cargo plane has carried out another flight to and from a military airfield in southern Israel in a sign of continuing Israeli arms supplies to Azerbaijan.

Data available on Flight Radar24, a website tracking international flights, shows that the plane belonging to the Azerbaijani Silk Way airline returned to Baku on Wednesday from the Israeli Air Force’s Ovda base. As always, the carrier did not reveal what it transported to Azerbaijan.

Ovda is the only airfield through which explosives can be flown into and out of Israel. It is believed to be a key conduit for Israeli exports of weapons and ammunition to Azerbaijan. They have totaled billion of dollars in the last two decades, making the Jewish state one of Azerbaijan’s main arms suppliers.

Those supplies continued even during the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani forces heavily used Israeli-made attack drones and multiple-launch rocket systems throughout the six-week hostilities. Visiting Israel in March 2023, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov thanked the Israeli government for that support.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported last year that Azerbaijani cargo planes landed at the Ovda air base for at least 92 times from 2016-2023. According to the paper, the frequency of such flights spiked in the run-up to Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military offensive that restored its full control over Karabakh.

The Ovda-Baku flights continued even after the outbreak of the ongoing conflict in Gaza last October which led Israel to seek and receive large-scale military aid from the United States. The Armenian investigative publication Hetq.am counted about a dozen such flights between November 2023 and April 2024.

Azerbaijan’s military spending is reportedly due to reach $3.7 billion this year, compared with Armenia’s defense budget projected at $1.4 billion. Despite this disparity and its continuing military build-up, Baku has angrily denounced Armenia’s recent arms deal with a number of other countries and France in particular. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian rejected the criticism late last week.

“They say that the European Union, the West are arming Armenia, but Azerbaijan is buying weapons from Slovakia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Italy, France’s neighbor,” Pashinian told a news conference. “Why can Azerbaijan get weapons from Italy but Armenia can't get them from France? At least three EU member states have military-technical cooperation with Azerbaijan.”

Pashinian did not mention Baku’s deals with Israeli arms manufacturers which led his government to recall the Armenian ambassador in Tel Aviv just days after the outbreak of the 2020 Karabakh war. Although Azerbaijani-Israeli military cooperation appears to have continued unabated since then, Yerevan sent a new ambassador to Israel in April 2022.

 

 

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Hurriyet, Turkey
Sept 6 2024
 
 

Azerbaijan, Armenia agree on 80 pct of peace deal: Aliyev

Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev announced that Baku and Yerevan have reached consensus on approximately 80 percent of the draft peace agreement in the ongoing negotiations.
 

"We can establish peace in the South Caucasus. When we assess the current peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, we see that this is within reach," Aliyev stated during a speech at a forum in Italy on Sept. 6.

"Agreement has been reached on about 80 percent of the text of the peace treaty. We hope the negotiations will culminate in the signing of a peace accord," he said.

Last week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan proposed formalizing a peace treaty based on the agreed-upon points, with the unresolved issues to be discussed at a later stage.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a protracted dispute for decades over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region and certain border demarcations, a conflict that has seen two wars and a military operation. Following a one-day military operation last year, which concluded with Azerbaijan’s victory, the two nations entered a peace process.

Iran raises concerns over Zangezur

 

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi expressed his opposition over the Zangezur Corridor project, which aims to connect the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic to other regions of Azerbaijan.

In a statement on social media, Araghchi underscored that any alteration of borders with neighboring countries constitutes a "red line" for Iran and is "entirely unacceptable."

His remarks followed Russia’s advocacy for maintaining open channels of communication regarding efforts to secure a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the establishment of a land corridor.

From the outset, Tehran has opposed the project, citing its aversion to "geopolitical shifts" in the Caucasus.
Iran harbors concerns that the corridor could sever Armenia’s direct land access, which is seen as a significant geopolitical implication.

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/azerbaijan-armenia-agree-on-80-pct-of-peace-deal-aliyev-200299

 
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Armenpress.am

 

Renewed Azeri aggression possible, says Speaker

Renewed Azeri aggression possible, says Speaker

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan on Monday didn’t rule out that Azerbaijan could launch a renewed aggression against Armenia.

Simonyan made the comment at a press briefing when asked about the latest numerous statements made by Iran in support of Armenia’s territorial integrity, and whether this could imply that Baku could launch a new attack.

“I always think that Azerbaijan could launch an aggression against Armenia. Taking this occasion, I’d like to welcome the statements made by the Iranian officials and say that these statements by Iran are highly important, and such an activeness is very welcomed,” Simonyan said.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1199346?fbclid=IwY2xjawFMdPRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHR4MHWQw6hyiLKGIJo65xZ_Xea85lPImWhlno7lil_OLxdjJwIdtLk0G_Q_aem_jzhw_73e_a8EI4h55kTk1Q

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OC MEDIA
Sept 11 2024
 
 

Azerbaijan refuses to sign peace treaty based on already agreed points

clock_088f7a37.png 11 September 2024
 

Azerbaijan has refused to sign an interim peace treaty with Armenia based on articles both parties had already agreed on, despite having proposed to do so earlier this year.

On Wednesday, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Aykhan Hajiade stated that signing a framework peace treaty with Armenia which only included mutually agreed upon provisions was ‘unacceptable’ and only served to ‘postpone the solution of existing problems in bilateral relations to the next stage’.

Hajizade echoed previous Azerbaijani demands that Armenia end its ‘continuing’ territorial claims against Azerbaijan in its legislation and constitution.

His remarks came in response to a speech on the ongoing peace talks delivered by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan earlier that day at the Yerevan Dialogue conference.

Pashinyan reiterated Armenia’s offer to sign the already agreed-upon articles of the peace treaty with Azerbaijan, to have ‘a fundamental document’, and then move on to discussing other issues.

Pashinyan added that articles contained ‘internationally accepted core provisions’ for establishing relations, noting that it envisages a mechanism that would enable the two parties to continue discussions through a joint mechanism and to also establish diplomatic relations.

Pashinyan quoted high-ranking Azerbaijani officials, including President Ilham Aliyev, as saying that ‘almost 80% of the peace treaty paragraphs have been approved’.

 

Despite turning down Pashinyan’s offer, Azerbaijan made a similar proposal in July, calling on Armenia to sign a document on the basic principles of a future peace treaty as an interim peace measure, a proposal that received a cold reception in Yerevan at the time.

Pashinyan proposed a similar measure at a press conference on 31 August, stating that the current draft of the treaty included thirteen articles that had been fully agreed upon, with three other partially accepted articles.

‘In any case, we, or anyone, else can’t ever have the kind of peace treaty that would regulate all possible issues’, said Pashinyan.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov rejected Pashinyan’s offer a few days later, stating on 2 September that Baku had received the latest draft of the treaty from Armenia a few hours before Pashinyan’s press conference, and that ‘several key points’ had been removed from the document.

‘Important aspects were not included in the draft of the agreement, and we were told that this was the solution to the issue. In the context of a historical conflict, the agreement and each of its clauses are of great importance’, he said, recommending that Armenia ‘take these issues more seriously’. 

Despite Azerbaijan’s negative reaction to the latest draft, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan earlier this week said that the draft Armenia had submitted ‘largely includes the fully agreed text’ and that Yerevan was awaiting Baku’s response to it.

‘There is a real opportunity to sign the peace treaty in a short period of time’, he said.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hajizada criticised Mirzoyan’s remarks, stating that ‘instead of adequately reacting to the commentary made by Azerbaijan, Armenia tried to turn a blind eye to the challenges by removing the necessary provisions that are necessary to be reflected in the draft.’

It is unclear what exactly Armenia was alleged to have left out of its draft.

In August, Azerbaijan agreed to withdraw their demand from the agreement for a ‘Zangezur corridor’ — a proposed transit link connecting mainland Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan. 

The issue was considered a major roadblock to the signing of a peace treaty, with Azerbaijan then stating that Armenia’s constitution was ‘the only obstacle to further progress in the peace process’.

The Armenian constitution references the Armenian Declaration of Independence, which includes a joint decision by the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Karabakh Council to ‘reunify the Armenian SSR and the Mountainous Region of Karabakh’.

While Armenia has repeatedly denied that changing its constitution was a precondition for a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, Pashinyan in May issued a decree to draft a new constitution by December 2026, and at the end of August, the government announced plans to hold a referendum to approve a new constitution in 2027. 

https://oc-media.org/azerbaijan-refuses-to-sign-peace-treaty-based-on-already-agreed-points/

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Azatutyun.am

 

Peace Deal Unfair To Armenia, Says Top U.S. Senator

Սեպտեմբեր 11, 2024
 
image.png
US - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., June 8, 2021.
 

Azerbaijan is setting “ridiculous” conditions to avoid signing an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty that is “not going to be fair” to Armenia, according to Ben Cardin, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Cardin commented on the draft treaty discussed by Baku and Yerevan during a hearing in Washington on Tuesday organized by the U.S. Helsinki Commission, a mostly congressional federal agency that monitors human rights.

“If I understand it, they’re not even talking about taking care of Nagorno-Karabakh from the point of view of access by the community that’s been displaced,” he said. “They’re not even talking about the border issues as far as the areas that are currently under control by Azerbaijan in Armenia. So it’s not really a very fair agreement.”

“With all that being said, my understanding is that Armenia wants to move forward with the agreement because that’s the only way they are going to be able to get their borders opened and get their country economically on the right path,” he said.

Cardin, who co-chairs the Helsinki Commission with a Republican congressman, went on to suggest that the agreement is unlikely to be signed anytime soon because Baku is demanding a change of Armenia’s constitution which it claims contains territorial claims to Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan is insisting on constitutional changes in Armenia, which is ridiculous,” said the Maryland Democrat. “This is a ridiculous requirement that they are asking for. It’s not needed, and it’s really something we believe is to delay or eliminate the agreement.”

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reaffirmed that precondition on Tuesday when it rejected Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s fresh offer to sign an interim peace deal that would leave out the few remaining sticking points. It said Yerevan’s insistence on “excluding the non-agreed points from the draft treaty” is “unacceptable” to Baku.

Nevertheless, Pashinian on Wednesday continued to repeat his proposal. The signed document would contain 16 of the 17 articles of the draft treaty on which the two sides fully or mostly agree, he told the Armenian parliament. He did not elaborate on those provisions.

“Whatever the agreement is, it still won't answer all the important questions,” Pashinian said, responding to Baku’s objections.

Armenian opposition leaders claim Pashinian is desperate to sign such a document in hopes of misleading Armenians and increasing his chances of holding on to power. Like Cardin, they have complained that it says nothing about Karabakh and does not require Azerbaijan to withdraw from Armenian border areas occupied in 2021-2022.

 

 

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Asbarez.com

 

‘Free Armenian Hostages, Stop the Genocide’: Ocampo’s Message to Baku

 
image.png

 

Human Rights Activist and the first and former prosecutor general of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo called on Azerbaijan to release Armenians illegally being held captive in Baku and to “stop the genocide” against the Armenian population of Artsakh.

The matter of the release of Armenians in Azerbaijani prisons should be on the agenda of and part of issues to be discussed at the United Nations Climate Summit, known as COP29, scheduled to be held in Baku in November, Ocampo said during a press conference on Friday in Yerevan.

He emphasized that a clear message should be sent to participants and decision-makers who will be attending the conference.

Ocampo said it is extremely important that the matter of the imprisoned Armenians in Baku is not neglected by the participants during the COP29 summit, and expressed hope that these Armenian captives will be released before this summit.

According to Ocampo, the Armenians who are languishing in Baku prisons are hostages, not prisoners of war. The people who are now in Baku prisons were the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“This is sad, but it is similar to what happened in 1915 because at that time the primary mission of the Turks was to eradicate the leaders of the Armenians. This is the same as what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Ocampo emphasized, and reaffirmed his view that the matter of the release of the former Nagorno-Karabakh military and political leaders from Baku prisons should be on the agenda of COP29 and part of its discussions.

“Free the Armenian hostages, stop the genocide!” Ocampo declared.

Ocampo said that Azerbaijan’s attacks, which forced the Armenian population of Artsakh to forcibly flee to Armenian, what he called the de-Armenization of Artsakh, is worrisome, but there are remedies under international law that can be used to resolve the situation.

 

“One of the best examples is the Russian-Ukrainian war, which is not by force. Armenia had won the [Artsakh] war in the 1990s, but was unable to find the legal solutions necessary to preserve that victory,” Ocampo pointed out.

“Even now, Azerbaijan is obligated to understand and respect international law. Until the verdict of the International Court of Justice, Azerbaijan participates in the hearings. We know that Nagorno-Karabakh has its rights. And today I offered my assistance to the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, and we shall discuss how we will plan the return of the Armenians of Artsakh and how Azerbaijan will recognize the rights of that population of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Ocampo added.

“For that, a work plan developed by the people of Artsakh is needed. The right exists, and we are in relatively more favorable conditions to apply it,” he said.

“I always mention that one of the Nuremberg prosecutors was 103 years old, he had seen everything, and when we asked him what to do, he replied: ‘Never give up, never give up, and never give up.’ Armenians know very well what endurance, resistance is. At the moment, international law is on your side,” Ocampo emphasized.

Ocampo also stressed the importance of unifying the global Armenian community efforts in the process of securing the release of Armenian prisoners held in Baku.

Ocampo highlighted the success of the online campaign he launched months ago for the release of Armenian prisoners.

“I have been involved in various processes related to genocides around the world, and this is the first time I have witnessed such global cooperation, which is a fantastic achievement. Armenians are creating an unprecedented experience of active collaboration,” Ocampo said, noting that these efforts are vital for protecting Armenia.

He also called on all Armenians to contribute to the release of the hostages. According to him, Armenians are not alone in this matter, because many universities and academic communities have joined the initiative.

“The Armenian Diaspora can, at the very least, join this process,” Ocampo said.

 

 

https://asbarez.com/free-armenian-hostages-stop-the-genocide-ocampos-message-to-baku/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFR4oVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRNuVveeQB-ykgbXMuuZrR0d8N-xfiKCT3m3I_Yu8A5Rd3iza3EXS2w2Uw_aem_J8j6ocqhtMHHGCMccCIMbA

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The Sunday Times, UK
Sept 15 2024
 

A day of fast cars and genocidal maniacs in Azerbaijan

 

The country’s grand prix is being held within earshot of Armenian hostages

Dominic Lawson
 
Sunday September 15 2024, 12.01am BST, The Sunday Times

Should you be one of those watching the fuel-fest known as the Formula 1 grand prix taking place in Baku today, consider this: within half a mile of the drivers hurtling around the streets of Azerbaijan’s capital is the state security service headquarters. And languishing in its cells are — among many other political prisoners — several who were ministers of the former Armenian government of Nagorno-Karabakh, now unlawfully held hostage after being captured last year when Azerbaijan invaded the disputed territory.

Greg Maffei, head of Liberty Media, which owns the F1 business, has criticised the holding of one of its races there, but said that such events were in “places like Baku” because they had paid such large sums for the privilege — a succinct description of what has become known as “sportswashing”.

But Ilham Aliyev, who took over from his father as the president of Azerbaijan in 2003, and appointed his wife vice-president, is also the latest example of how autocratic petro-states are cloaking themselves in the sanctimony of the fight against climate change. For in November Baku will host Cop29 — the annual UN conference on climate change. Aliyev has the audacity — given his recent actions — to declare it will be “the Cop of peace”. (I can’t quite believe this slogan could have been dreamt up by the British public relations company Teneo, which has the Azerbaijan Cop29 account. Previously another British PR firm, Portland Communications, toiled most remuneratively to put the best possible gloss on the Baku regime.)

The bulk of Azerbaijan’s GDP and approximately 90 per cent of its export revenues are the fruits of oil and gas production. Is this a message that Aliyev wants his country to become a post-hydrocarbon economy? The reverse. At last year’s Cop assembly he declared: “As head of a country rich in fossil fuels, of course we will defend the right of these countries to continue investments and production.” He has also referred to Azerbaijan’s oil and gas reserves as “a gift of the gods”.

A further gift is the business opportunity for Baku to fill the gap left by much of Europe’s abandonment of Russian gas, following Moscow’s assault on Ukraine. When the European parliament approved sanctions against Aliyev and other Azeri government officials over their offensive against the Armenians, the European Commission refused to implement them, and its president, Ursula von der Leyen, flew to Baku, hailing the country as “a crucial energy partner” for the EU in its efforts to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas.

But it seems Azerbaijan was increasing its own imports of Russian gas, even as it had been stepping up its exports to the EU. One expert in this field, Gubad Ibadoghlu of the London School of Economics, has written that “the only viable way” Azerbaijan could fulfil its new obligations to the EU was to buy in more gas from Moscow (to shove back down the pipelines to Europe). Indeed, the EU’s energy commissioner told Politico magazine that such repackaging of Russian gas would not be against the rules “because Russian gas is not sanctioned”.

One thing clear in this murky business is that President Aliyev and President Putin enjoy the best of relations. The Azeri leader welcomed the Russian to Baku in August, returning the hospitality he had received at the Kremlin four months earlier. This casts light on the fact that Russia, which had long guaranteed Armenia’s borders, did not come to its aid when Azerbaijan invaded last year. Admittedly, Putin had other matters on his plate, what with trying to conquer Ukraine and threatening the West with nuclear annihilation.

To put it mildly, this bodes ill for the Armenians, the first nation to become officially Christian (long before the Roman empire), who have suffered genocide at the hands of Muslim neighbours before.

The term genocide was coined by the Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, partly in response to the atrocities perpetrated against the Armenian population of the Ottoman empire between 1915 and 1918. Roughly three quarters of the Armenian race were exterminated, a greater proportion than even Hitler managed in respect of Europe’s Jewish population.

The language used was similar. One of the perpetrators, a doctor and regional governor called Dr Mehmed Resid, said “the Armenian bandits were a load of harmful microbes that had afflicted the body of the fatherland. Was it not the duty of the doctor to kill the microbes?”

In this context, Aliyev’s description of ethnic Armenians as “barbarians and vandals” infected by a “virus” for which they “need to be treated” is chilling. As is a commemorative stamp issued by his government, portraying a man in a biohazard suit fumigating the area of Nagorno-Karabakh. Will Baku stop there? In a speech on December 24, 2022, Aliyev declared: “They … established a state for themselves in someone else’s land. Armenia was never present in this region before. Present-day Armenia is our land.”

In fact, “present-day” Armenia, which represents about 10 per cent of the landmass of its historic territory, is a landlocked little country of no strategic significance: it has no oil or gas, for example. Which helps explain why the ever-pragmatic Foreign Office has advised successive British administrations not to provoke Turkey by recognising what it did to the Armenians as genocide (though the US, Germany and France have found the nerve to do so).

Azerbaijan has also been rather more successful at winning the affection of Westminster politicians, not least in the case of Bob Blackman, who has for many years been chairman of the Azerbaijan all-party parliamentary group — and more recently of the Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee, now organising the election of a party leader.

In 2020, as Aliyev mounted an earlier attempt to seize Nagorno-Karabakh, Blackman seemed proud to declare that in Westminster he had often “put down positions on behalf of our good friends in Azerbaijan” and that “in these types of conflicts … whoever gets the best propaganda tends to grab the attention of the listeners and viewers”. In this respect, said Blackman, he had been “fed the information through the Azerbaijan embassy in the UK”, which had been “very helpful and proactive”.

Last week, per contra, three other MPs signed a letter to the head of F1 calling on him to “stop enabling regimes like Azerbaijan to sports-wash their crimes”. I fear there is worse to come.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/f9834745-b7bc-4d9f-bdae-9ee33532e0e3 

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The Guardian, UK
Sept 17 2024
 
 

Azerbaijan accused of hypocrisy after calling for Cop29 global truce

Climate summit host positioning itself as peacemaker but is accused of ethnic cleansing and imprisoning opponents

Fiona Harvey Environment editor
 

The host country of this year’s UN climate summit, Azerbaijan, has been accused of hypocrisy in calling for a global truce to coincide with the conference taking place.

Azerbaijan holds the presidency of the Cop29 summit, which will take place in its capital, Baku, from 11 November for two weeks. Heads of government from around the world are expected and more than 180 countries are likely to be represented.

 

For the duration of the conference, and a week before and afterwards, Azerbaijan is calling on all countries that are engaged in conflict to put down arms. The presidency will also hold a special “peace day” on 15 November, and a Cop29 peace and climate initiative, intended to help the most vulnerable countries, in conjunction with the UK, Germany, Italy, Uganda and others.

The conflicts involving Ukraine and Russia, and Israel and Gaza – both in regions neighbouring Azerbaijan – will cast a shadow over the conference. Russia is a leading producer of fossil fuels and emitter of greenhouse gases, while Azerbaijan is helping to supply gas to Europe in place of Russia’s gas. Forging diplomatic agreement on the climate is expected to be even more fraught than usual, when geopolitical tensions are already running high.

A leaked draft of the truce appeal, seen by the Guardian, shows Azerbaijan is positioning itself as a peacemaker. “[Cop29] is a unique chance to bridge divides and find paths towards lasting peace. Conflicts increase greenhouse gas emissions and ravage the environment, polluting soil, water and air. The devastation of ecosystems and pollution caused by conflicts worsen climate change and undermine our efforts to safeguard the planet,” reads the draft resolution, a short text of 180 words.

But activists have pointed to Azerbaijan’s record on human rights and its recently concluded war with Armenia. More than 100,000 people were displaced in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region after Azerbaijan launched an offensive last September.

peace agreement was reached in late December but human rights campaigners say Azerbaijan still holds hundreds of political prisoners.

Several accused the Cop host country of hypocrisy. Paul Polman, a former chief of Unilever and now a climate activist and peace campaigner, said: “The idea of a ‘Cop truce’ is a deeply cynical PR stunt by Azerbaijan designed to distract the world’s attention away from its ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh last year.

“If President [Ilhan] Aliyev [of Azerbaijan] truly wants to lead by example, instead on calling on others to act, he should commit to decarbonising Azerbaijan’s fossil fuel economy and release the more than 300 political prisoners he is detaining before Cop29 begins.”

Ibad Bayramov, whose father, Gubad Ibadoghlu, an academic at the London School of Economics, is among those being held, said: “The conflicts have enabled the Azerbaijani government to fly under the radar while systematically dismantling civil society by imprisoning opposition voices. As Cop29 approaches, international attention is increasingly focused on the regime’s oppressive tactics. The government’s recent truce call is nothing but a distraction aimed at diverting foreign governments’ attention from the harsh realities on the ground.”

He added: “My father’s trial has been deliberately frozen, while others face extended pre-trial detentions until after Cop29. Their aim is to get through Cop29 without holding any trials for political prisoners, hoping to avoid scrutiny.”

A spokesperson for the Conflict and Environment Observatory said of the truce call: “This does nothing to address the root causes of conflict. It’s like a sticking plaster on a gaping wound. Stepping down conflicts for a few weeks would obviously save lives, and that is a good thing, but it would be back to business as usual immediately after. Cop can result in meaningful action for peace and climate justice, but it must address the impact that militaries and conflicts are having on the climate crisis.”

Azerbaijan’s government rejected the criticism. Yalchin Rafiyev, the country’s chief negotiator for the Cop, said: “This initiative does not have any linkage with Armenia. What we are seeking is completely generic in nature. We are simply calling for a truce; it is not linked to political issues.”

He said the reaction from other countries to the idea of a Cop truce had been universally positive so far. But he acknowledged that it would be difficult in practice. “We cannot reassure everyone that it will be observed by all those in conflict,” he said.

Azerbaijan has also announced its programme for the Cop, which includes several initiatives on issues such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farming and organic waste, and promoting hydrogen as a green fuel, but does not mention the central pledge made at last year’s Cop28 that the world would “transition away from fossil fuels”.

Rafiyev said fossil fuels would be on the agenda at Cop, along with the need to boost renewable energy. The other pressing issue at Cop29 will be providing adequate finance to developing countries, to help them cut their greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of climate breakdown. So far, there is little agreement on how the trillions required for such an effort will be raised.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/17/azerbaijan-accused-of-hypocrisy-after-calling-for-cop29-global-truce

 
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Formula 1 takes place half a mile from Armenian captives - British journalist

Formula 1 takes place half a mile from Armenian captives - British journalist

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. British journalist  Dominic Lawson  has published an extensive article in The Times titled 'The Day of Fast Cars and Genocidal Maniacs in Azerbaijan.' The article covers the Formula 1 Grand Prix taking place in Azerbaijan and addresses the issue of Armenian captives detained in the country.

The British journalist writes in the article that just half a mile from where the drivers race through the streets of Azerbaijan’s capital is the State Security Service headquarters. In its cells — among many other political prisoners — former high-ranking officials of Nagorno-Karabakh, who were illegally taken hostage after being captured last year, are being tortured.

“Greg Maffei, head of Liberty Media, which owns the F1 business, has criticised the holding of one of its races there, but said that such events were in “places like Baku” because they had paid such large sums for the privilege — a succinct description of what has become known as “sportswashing”.

"But Ilham Aliyev, who took over from his father as the president of Azerbaijan in 2003, and appointed his wife vice-president, is also the latest example of how autocratic petro-states are cloaking themselves in the sanctimony of the fight against climate change. For in November Baku will host Cop29 — the annual UN conference on climate change. Aliyev has the audacity — given his recent actions — to declare it will be “the Cop of peace”, the journalist noted.

The British journalist has pointed out that the bulk of Azerbaijan’s GDP and approximately 90 per cent of its export revenues are the fruits of oil and gas production.

“Is this a message that Aliyev wants his country to become a post-hydrocarbon economy? The reverse. At last year’s Cop assembly he declared: “As head of a country rich in fossil fuels, of course we will defend the right of these countries to continue investments and production.” He has also referred to Azerbaijan’s oil and gas reserves as 'a gift of the gods''' the journalist mentioned.

“But it seems Azerbaijan was increasing its own imports of Russian gas, even as it had been stepping up its exports to the EU. One expert in this field, Gubad Ibadoghlu of the London School of Economics, has written that “the only viable way” Azerbaijan could fulfil its new obligations to the EU was to buy in more gas from Moscow (to shove back down the pipelines to Europe).

One thing clear in this murky business is that President Aliyev and President Putin enjoy the best of relations. The Azeri leader welcomed the Russian to Baku in August, returning the hospitality he had received at the Kremlin four months earlier. This casts light on the fact that Russia, which had long guaranteed Armenia’s borders, did not come to its aid when Azerbaijan invaded last year,” reads the article.

 


 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1200058?fbclid=IwY2xjawFXVpJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHUX1ZwXCOzHi-4mPve3E8mLRecboYNs2pFlB-AHt1Br9uVrb0a36nZRNhw_aem_TBxPFYfwpXUFzsL8WTJwiw

 

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Sept 23 2024
 
 

Azerbaijan warns countries against supplying arms to Armenia

 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev issued a stern warning to nations providing arms to Armenia, particularly France, stating that those who arm Armenia will bear direct responsibility for future consequences.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the seventh term of Azerbaijan’s National Assembly, Aliyev emphasized the increased combat readiness of the Azerbaijani military and the country’s enhanced defense capabilities.

Military strength, regional security

Aliyev highlighted that Azerbaijan’s military strength has grown significantly since the Second Karabakh War, noting improvements in equipment supplies and an expansion of the country’s special forces and commando units.

“Our army’s combat capabilities have been strengthened, and the necessary level of equipment supplies has been ensured. Armenia and any country backing it must know that it is impossible to speak to us in the language of blackmail or ultimatums,” he said.

Concerns over Armenia’s foreign arms supply

Aliyev expressed concerns about Armenia’s recent acquisition of free weapons from France, calling the situation “very serious.” He warned that those arming Armenia are directly responsible for any future developments in the region.

“Countries arming Armenia should be aware that they will be held directly responsible for the outcomes,” Aliyev stated, stressing that Azerbaijan is prepared to respond to any provocation.

Importance of defense and self-sufficiency

The president also discussed Azerbaijan’s expanding defense industry, revealing that large-scale modernization efforts are underway at the country’s defense factories.

“Azerbaijan exports defense products to dozens of countries, and our defense industry will continue to grow in the coming years,” he noted.

Regional tensions and the peace process

Aliyev pointed out that the ongoing regional tensions and Armenia’s “revengeful tendencies” necessitate Azerbaijan’s continued focus on military strength.

He accused Armenia of deliberately prolonging the peace process to gain time and expressed skepticism about the sincerity of their efforts. Aliyev also urged Armenia to amend its constitution and cease territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

https://www.turkiyetoday.com/region/azerbaijan-warns-countries-against-supplying-arms-to-armenia-56401/

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The National Interest
Sept 23 2024
 
 

The World has the Chance to Hold Azerbaijan Accountable

The COP29 summit may be the last opportunity for the international community to condemn President Ilham Aliyev and prevent the total erasure of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population.

Ayear ago, Azerbaijani forces launched a brutal military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh that, within days, expelled a population of 120,000 ethnic Armenians who had called the region home for millennia. Besides issuing a few perfunctory statements, the international community did nothing to hold Azerbaijan to account. Now, it has a unique chance to make amends.

From November 11-22, Azerbaijan will host the UN Climate Change Conference, or COP29, the most important gathering of world leaders to address climate change. While Azerbaijan will use the conference to try to polish its image and showcase itself as a leader in the region, the human rights community sees an opportunity to finally shine a spotlight on Azerbaijan’s extraordinarily odious regime, which continues to project aggression toward Armenia and abuse its own people.

COP29 can serve as a forum for state participants to pressure Azerbaijan to cease its abuses and also propose a concrete path for the multitudes who were banished from their homeland.

Unfamiliar to much of the world, Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed territory in the South Caucasus situated roughly between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Though internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan based on Soviet-era demarcations, the area was independently governed by its indigenous ethnic Armenian population during and following Soviet rule.

In September 2020, Azerbaijan launched a forty-four-day war and took control of part of the autonomous enclave. The land grab was ruthless. Azerbaijani forces decimated villagestortured prisoners, and beheaded those who were too sick or elderly to escape. A ceasefire was called, but Azerbaijan’s brutality did not subside.

We at the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) have spent the past four years investigating these and other abuses that led to last year’s ethnic cleansing. Our team from Harvard, Oxford, UCLA, Wesleyan, and Yale has conducted seven fact-finding missions in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the most recent taking place this past month. We recently published a 200-page report on the atrocities we investigated, including excessive torture, killings, disappearances, the mutilation of corpses, and the destruction of churches and cemeteries.

These abuses form part of Azerbaijan’s broader campaign to exterminate Nagorno-Karabakh’s indigenous population, a policy openly touted by its leadership time and time again. Azerbaijan’s dictator Ilham Aliyev refers to Armenians as “rats,” “dogs,” and “barbarians” infected with a “virus” for which they “need to be treated.” He has repeatedly warned, “If [Armenians] do not want to die, then get out of Azerbaijani lands,” which he considers to include Nagorno-Karabakh and even Yerevan, Armenia’s capital. Azerbaijani officials echo his genocidal discourse, calling ethnic Armenians a “cancerous tumor” and “disease” and declaring, “Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians.” Aliyev’s government even issued a stamp with a soldier in a hazmat suit fumigating Nagorno-Karabakh.

In the weeks leading up to last year’s ethnic cleansing, I met with U.S. officials to warn of the impending expulsion. UNHR also published a briefing paper about the risk of genocide in the region. Other genocide experts also sounded the alarm; the first chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Courtthe first UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of GenocideGenocide Watch, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention all issued separate warnings of the genocidal nature of Azerbaijan’s actions.

Sadly, our alerts were ignored, and on September 19 last year, Azerbaijan struck. The result has been devastating. Nagorno-Karabakh is currently the least free location on the planet, according to Freedom House, topping places like Syria, North Korea, and Eastern Ukraine.

Weeks after Freedom House released its report, Aliyev broadcast from Nagorno-Karabakh’s emptied capital to praise the demolition of “the devil’s nest,” Nagorno-Karabakh’s parliament, and boast that there was “no longer any trace” of ethnic Armenians, whom he called “separatists.” He then lit a fire to symbolize what he dubbed “the final cleaning.”

While Aliyev dismisses condemnation by organizations like Freedom House or UNHR, he does care about his status among world leaders, particularly in Europe, which is the primary purchaser of Azeribaijan’s fossil fuels. Oil and gas production accounts for 92.5 percent of Azerbaijan’s export revenue, so Aliyev’s political survival hinges on his reputation in fora like COP29.

Many were shocked by the announcement that a brutal petrostate like Azerbaijan would host the climate change conference, a decision made only weeks after the ethnic cleansing was carried out. Climate champion Greta Thunberg, for instance, lamented that the summit “is being held by an authoritarian regime which violates human rights both within the country and not least against Armenians, and which depends on dirty fossil fuels for export and desperately tries to repress voices that strive for change.”

But the conference may be the last opportunity for the international community to condemn Azerbaijan and prevent the total erasure of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population. Those who fled should be allowed to go back—or receive significant compensation.

The international community has a rare chance at redemption. How will it respond?

Thomas Becker is the Legal and Policy Director at the University Network for Human Rights. He teaches human rights at Columbia Law School and Wesleyan University.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/world-has-chance-hold-azerbaijan-accountable-212889

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eurasianet
Sept 24 2024
 
 

Azerbaijan: Victory hasn’t dimmed Aliyev’s ire for peace proponents

Opposition to war is akin to treason.

Sep 24, 2024
It has been just over a year since Azerbaijan regained full control of Nagorno-Karabakh. Yet the gratification of total victory has not dulled the malice that President Ilham Aliyev shows for his critics, especially peace activists. 

Opponents of the war, along with proponents of reconciliation with Armenia, have become the government’s latest targets in a broad crackdown on independent voices that started last November. In August, researcher, activist and occasional Eurasianet contributor Bahruz Samadov was arrested by state security service and is being held in pre-trial detention on treason charges.

The criminal case against Samadov reportedly stems from freelance writings and interviews he has given in recent years that have been highly critical of Azerbaijan’s conduct of the Second Karabakh War. As he was being escorted to a judicial hearing on September 5, Samadov shouted, “Long live peace! Long live nations’ brotherhood!” He also denied the charges against him. 

Since Samadov’s arrest, at least two other peace activists have been interrogated as witnesses in the treason case, and barred from leaving the country: blogger Samad Shikhi was detained on August 23 and released a day later, and researcher Javid Agha was apprehended on August 27.

A commentary broadcast in late August portrayed Samadov and others as members of a subversive network that “tirelessly exploits universal positive values such as pacifism and tolerance, [and which] is unequivocally anti-Azerbaijani in national identity, national mentality and activities against sovereign development.” The commentary, without offering evidence, also alleged Samadov provided sensitive information about Azerbaijan to Armenian journalists.

On September 18, the Turan news agency reported that 18 international human rights groups sent a letter to the new secretary general of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, highlighting the lack of rule of law in Azerbaijan and calling for increased scrutiny of Baku’s practices. “There are almost no independent civil society entities left in the country. Leaders of independent media organizations have been arrested, and authorities have increased pressure on human rights defenders, as well as academics and researchers. Repression is more and more directed at young activists,” the letter read. 

“The human rights crisis in Azerbaijan should be a high priority of your office,” the letter to Berset added. It urged the secretary general to raise concerns during his expected attendance of COP29, the annual UN climate conference, which will be hosted by Azerbaijan in November.

Aliyev’s administration, which has engaged in a long-running feud with the Council of Europe, is unlikely to be swayed by any criticism coming out of Strasbourg. Recently, it was revealed that European parliament members who voted against ratifying the Azerbaijani delegation’s credentials last year were listed as persona non grata in Azerbaijan. Aliyev said September 6 that the ban on their entry could be lifted only after they restore Azerbaijan’s participation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

In remarks made during a ceremony at KarabakhUniversity on September 20, Aliyev opened a window on his personal views about Azerbaijani citizens who opposed the war. For him, it seems that despite the eventual reconquest of Karabakh, the loss of the territory to Armenian forces during the First Karabakh War in the early 1990s still stings. 

“They wanted us to accept defeat. They wanted our people to come to terms with that defeat,” he said.
“Certain people in our society sold themselves to foreign circles … mingled with Armenians, made deals, and organized joint meetings with them.”

“What contacts could we have with the bloodthirsty enemy who had committed the Khojaly genocide and razed all our cities and villages in the Karabakh region to the ground?” Aliyev continued, referring to the events during and immediately after the first war. 

Regional observers see the muzzling of peace activists as part of a larger effort to ensure that dissidents don’t have a chance to dent Azerbaijan’s image by airing grievances during COP29. The government “does not want any public activity beyond its control,” RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani service quoted Altay Goyushov, head of the Baku Research Institute, as saying.

https://eurasianet.org/azerbaijan-victory-hasnt-dimmed-aliyevs-ire-for-peace-proponents 

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Kids Play On Oil-Polluted Land As Azerbaijan Readies For Climate Summit

September 27, 2024 05:27 GMT
 
As Azerbaijan readies to host the United Nations COP29 climate talks, residents near the capital, Baku, say oil pollution is posing a toxic hazard. The country's fossil-fuel resources have made it a leading player on the international market but people who live near the rigs complain that oil spills are ignored while state officials focus on promoting the country as a clean, thriving economy.
 
 
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Sept 30 2024
 
 
Azerbaijan is using Cop29 to ‘peacewash’ its global image
 

Azerbaijan is hosting the next UN climate summit, Cop29, in November. Their proposed agenda omits discussions on phasing out fossil fuels and excludes civil society participation. This is not a surprise. Azerbaijan has recently increased oil and gas production, and aims to diversify its economy by expanding mining.

The country has instead called for a global truce to coincide with the conference. In an open letter on September 21, the president of Cop29, Mukhtar Babayev, wrote: “[Cop29] is a unique chance to bridge divides and find paths towards lasting peace … The devastation of ecosystems and pollution caused by conflicts worsen climate change and undermine our efforts to safeguard the planet.”

Azerbaijan is positioning itself as a peacemaker. But this stands in stark contrast to the country’s record of military aggression, human rights abuses and violations of international law, which have left it facing allegations of genocide. Azerbaijan is using Cop29 both to “greenwash” and “peacewash” its global image, while in fact it still has expansionist territorial ambitions.

In September 2020, Azerbaijan launched a six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh, a border region claimed by both Armenia and Azerbaijan. The war resulted in more than 7,000 casualties, with Azerbaijan reclaiming most of the territories it had lost in previous conflicts. A ceasefire was brokered by Russia, but tensions persisted.

 

In 2023, Azerbaijan again launched a military operation and swiftly regained control of the rest of the region. The offensive forced more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee and Nagorno-Karabakh, which had declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1991, was officially dissolved in January 2024. A new investigation has shown that many homes in the region have since been looted.


Read more: Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan's energy wealth gives it de facto impunity for ethnic cleansing

Two international jurists, Juan Ernesto Mendez and Luis Moreno Ocampo, have concluded that Azerbaijan’s 2020 and 2023 military campaigns in Nagorno-Karabakh constituted genocide.

Mendez highlighted that Azerbaijan’s strategy was to inflict “serious bodily or mental harm” on Armenians. And Ocampo emphasised the use of starvation, denial of medical aid and forced displacement. He compared Azerbaijan’s tactics to the Armenian Genocide during the first world war and the also to the Holocaust.

Azerbaijani forces reportedly used sexual violence systematically against Armenians during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, circulating messages encouraging the rape and murder of Armenian women. And rights organisations have also provided harrowing accounts of the physical and psychological abuse endured by hundreds of Armenian hostages still being held.

Many elements of the conflict remain unresolved. But speaking from a position of military weakness, the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, proposed a peace treaty in May 2024. This involved conceding to Azerbaijan’s key demands, including that Nagorno-Karabakh should be recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

Despite these concessions, Azerbaijan has refused to engage in peace talks. It has instead made a series of new demands, which include changes to the Armenian constitution.

Azerbaijan is also playing a role in conflicts elsewhere. Two days before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow and Baku signed an agreement that Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, declared “brings our relations to the level of an alliance”. The Russo-Azeri alliance has made Azerbaijan a critical conduit in breaking western sanctions.

Russian oil exports to Azerbaijan quadrupled after the invasion, allowing Azerbaijan to meet its domestic energy needs and export the rest. In fact, Azerbaijan’s general trade with Russia increased by 17.5% in 2023, reaching US$4.3 billion (£3.2 billion).


Read more: Pro-Putin movement expands across the former Soviet bloc – here's why


Beyond the attempts at peacewashing, Azerbaijan’s hosting of Cop29 is a clear case of greenwashing. Azerbaijan is reliant on fossil fuel production, and has not committed to phasing out oil and gas.

The country is, for its part, trying to attract foreign investment in renewable energy as a means of diversifying its economy. BP signed an agreement with Azerbaijan in 2021 to build a solar power plant in Jabrayil, near Nagorno-Karabakh. And other international investors, including companies from the United Arab Emirates, are also involved in solar projects in the Baku region.

But the real source of economic diversification is mining – an industry that is largely owned by Aliyev’s family. Nagorno-Karabakh’s immense mineral resources, which include gold, silver and copper, have been exploited since Azerbaijan regained control of the region in 2020.

Cracking down on dissent

The Azerbaijani regime is a discriminatory dictatorship. Caucasus Heritage Watch, a research programme that monitors endangered cultural heritage in the South Caucasus, has documented the destruction of thousands of Christian heritage sites throughout Azerbaijan. And there has been systematic discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.

There has also been a crackdown on internal dissent ahead of Cop29, with many activists and political opponents facing arrest or harassment. Environmental protests, including a demonstration in 2023 against the construction of a dam to enable mining in the country’s west, have been violently suppressed.

High-profile figures including Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu, a prominent anti-corruption activist and senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, have been arrested. At least 25 journalists and activists are also being held on politically motivated charges.

Media outlets critical of the regime, such as Abzas Media, Toplum TV and Kanal 13, have also come under intense pressure or have been closed. And independent journalists and civil society activists are excluded from Cop29.

Azerbaijan’s so-called “caviar diplomacy” is the reason you may not have not heard about all this. This strategy has involved courting western journalists and officials, with whose tacit help Azerbaijan has been able to largely shield itself from scrutiny and attract European infrastructure investments.


Read more: Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan's energy wealth gives it de facto impunity for ethnic cleansing

Aliyev has been consistent in his rhetoric that Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, is an “Azerbaijani city”. This reflects a broader strategy of historical revisionism and genocide denial, aimed at reclaiming lands based on pre-Soviet borders.

 

These territorial ambitions are postponed while Cop29 takes place. But the conference could well be the prelude to the renewal of war in the South Caucasus.

https://theconversation.com/azerbaijan-is-using-cop29-to-peacewash-its-global-image-239960

 
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The Telegraph, UK
Sept 29 2024
 

Azerbaijan must walk the talk before preaching peace to others

Baku is hosting COP 29 in November and will use it to call for a ‘global truce’. But it first needs to show it means what it says

Varuzhan NersesyanAmbassador of the Republic of Armenia

The furore in the British press this month over the language used to describe the ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh comes at an emotional moment: it is one year since the indigenous population of Nagorno-Karabakh was forcefully displaced by Azerbaijani forces. 

Yet, Azerbaijan continues to resist signing a peace agreement, fostering a sense that “might is right”. Western pressure is urgently needed to help secure a just and lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. And the current moment offers a rare opportunity to achieve this goal. 

Newspaper reports tell us that Azerbaijan plans to use its hosting of COP 29 in November to call for a “global truce” in all armed conflicts. While this intention is commendable, it contains an ironic twist. Azerbaijan could itself demonstrate its commitment to peace by signing a peace agreement with Armenia, which has already expressed its readiness to sign the parts of the agreement agreed upon by the parties, free from artificial preconditions or demands. 

Our goal is simply peace between equal, sovereign nation-states. This is not just about ending hostilities; it is about turning the page on our shared history and the history of our region.

The Armenian government’s “Crossroads of Peace” initiative envisions our region as economically and politically interconnected and prosperous, where cooperation and coexistence replace conflict and division. For this vision to become a reality, Azerbaijan must abandon delaying tactics and unreasonable demands, such as insisting on amendments to Armenia’s Constitution. Peace cannot be imposed; it must be mutually agreed upon, with both parties willing to approach each other as equals.

COP 29 being held in Baku this year is the result of a significant agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan – a rare moment of optimism in our troubled region. Armenia agreed to lift its veto and support Baku’s bid as a confidence building measure, in exchange for Azerbaijan’s commitment to return thirty-two Armenian prisoners of war who had been unlawfully detained in Baku. 

This agreement was seen as a beacon of hope that peace might finally be within reach. However, since then, Azerbaijan has unleashed a barrage of threats and unreasonable demands toward Armenia, undermining the fragile foundation of that hopeful agreement.

With global attention now focused on Baku ahead of COP 29, Azerbaijan has a historic opportunity to put its stated commitment to peace into practice. Armenia is taking every necessary step toward this goal. It has proposed confidence-building measures, including the establishment of a joint mechanism to monitor and investigate ceasefire violations. So far, these proposals have been met with silence from Azerbaijan, which continues to accuse Armenia of ceasefire breaches without evidence.

Furthermore, Azerbaijan criticizes Armenia’s acquisition of arms for self-defence. Yet it simultaneously receives frequent arms shipments itself. In response, Armenia has proposed an arms control mechanism between the two nations – a proposal Azerbaijan has swiftly rejected. 

Azerbaijan’s opposition to the unarmed EU Monitoring Mission in Armenia, whose sole purpose is to promote stability and accountability in the region, is particularly troubling. While Azerbaijan has every right to refuse the Mission’s presence within its own territory, its insistence on the mission’s withdrawal from Armenia is at best unreasonable, at worst an attempt to remove international witnesses whilst preparing for another attack.

Peace in the region cannot be Armenia’s responsibility alone. Azerbaijan should demonstrate to the international community that it is genuinely committed to peace.

Likewise, the international community should weigh up Azerbaijan’s actions against its rhetoric ahead of COP 29. Words are important. Achieving genuine peace requires an unwavering commitment, but also accountability and adherence to international law. Baku must decide whether to seize this opportunity for progress, or continue down a path that will only breed further conflict.


Varuzhan Nersesyan is the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the UK

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/29/azerbaijan-must-walk-talk-before-preaching-peace-to-others/ 

 

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Azerbaijani Opposition Figure Dies After Brutal Attack In France

October 01, 2024
 
image.png
Vidadi Isgandarli (file photo)

Vidadi Isgandarli, an Azerbaijani opposition figure in exile well-known for his fierce criticism of the government, has died in France after being brutally beaten and stabbed in an attack at his apartment that his family says was politically motivated.

Oktay Isgandarli confirmed his brother's death to RFE/RL on October 1 after doctors fought for more than a day to keep him alive.

The deadly attack on Isgandarli follows a similar pattern of violence against Azerbaijani opposition figures in exile; in 2021, another politician in exile, Mohammad Mirzali, survived being stabbed.

"My brother had no idea who the attackers were or what motivated the assault.... They did not speak, and they wore masks, making it impossible to identify them," Oktay Isgandarli told RFE/RL.

"I have no doubt this is a politically motivated assassination. My brother survived a previous attack by approximately 15 assailants in 2022 here in France."

Oktay Isgandarli said he received a desperate video call from his brother early on September 29 as he clutched a pillow to his abdomen to try and staunch the bleeding after being attacked by three masked men who had broken into his apartment in Mulhouse in eastern France.

"I contacted the authorities and provided them with my brother's address," he said.

"When I arrived, the police had cordoned off the area, and I was unable to speak with him before he was rushed to the hospital."

Doctors said Vidadi Isgandarli was stabbed at least 21 times in the abdomen as well as blows to the body and head.

They managed to resuscitate him, but he never regained consciousness and succumbed to his injuries early on October 1, they said.

Vidadi Isgandarli was known as a vocal critic of the Azerbaijani government and President Ilham Aliyev, who has maintained a tight grip on power since 2003.

In 2010, Vidadi Isgandarli participated in parliamentary elections, which he denounced as fraudulent after opposition candidates failed to get elected. He then helped organize protests against the official election results.

Arrested in 2011 and charged with various offenses, including assault and interference with election officials, Vidadi denied the allegations, claiming they were politically motivated.

He was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison but was released early in December 2012 in a presidential amnesty.

Fearing further persecution, Vidadi, his brother, and their families emigrated to France in 2015.

With Azerbaijan set to host the climate conference COP29 in November, right groups have said it is imperative that the event is used also to shine a spotlight on the country and the deteriorating human rights situation there.

Earlier this year, Amnesty International noted that it and other human rights groups had documented the "widespread abuse" by the Azerbaijani authorities of the criminal justice system to crack down on human rights including the right to freedom of _expression_, often "detaining and falsely charging their critics with economic crimes."

 

 

https://www.rferl.org/a/azerbaijan-opposition-isgandarli-kiled-france/33141955.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawFp0K1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaLbJmhONOW3JpLeFtvcqgZnJ9A5a5fD5TqsmBMtuNuSI_IrIwg5eIHLNA_aem_Qi8MiEEsQTx3oxSPsiLbuQ

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Armenpress.am

 
Politics19:28, 2 October 2024

We don't see Azerbaijan's political will to sign peace treaty - Foreign Minister Mirzoyan

We don't see Azerbaijan's political will to sign peace treaty - Foreign Minister Mirzoyan

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Huge work has been done during recent 2-3 years despite all the challenges of escalations and attacks on the Armenian territory, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on the sidelines of the Warsaw Security Forum.

“We, the Armenian side, have been very constructive during the negotiations. You know, there is good news and bad news here. 

The good news is that we succeeded, we somehow managed to have some success with the Azerbaijani side. For instance, recently we adopted the first ever legal document between the 2 countries, we adopted the regulation on the joint work of the respective border commissions. These commissions work on delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In this document we managed to agree that the basis of the delimitation process should be the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991 which is quite an achievement. Not to overload you with the details, I will only say that among other things, the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991 was adopted by 12 former Soviet Union Republics. So, according to this document, the Republics recognized that the former administrative borders between us, Soviet Socialist Republics, became internationally recognized, inter-state borders. This means that we have a border with Azerbaijan, while starting delimiting this border we have solid ground, solid basis,’’ said the Foreign Minister.

“The bad news is that there are some other topics that we are negotiating around, for instance, the more comprehensive document, the peace treaty.

 Imagine, we have a situation when we have almost completed and finalized the text of the peace treaty, there is the draft but we don’t sign it,’’ said Mirzoyan, noting that the Azerbaijani side is reluctant to sign this peace document, peace agreement for some reasons. 

“For some calculations they come up with new and new preconditions each time and we see that they don’t want to sign the document. This time they say that there are more things that could be agreed but we believe that there is no single agreement in the world between any two countries that regulates all the aspects, all the spheres of their relations, meanwhile we can sign this very serious document and then continue negotiating the remaining issues. We don’t see this political will from Azerbaijani side,” the Foreign Minister said.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1201324?fbclid=IwY2xjawFqudlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHUG8-S69chf8iL9sXqwYlPo_VwKKKpYiVk-SbxQmEIP8L8cVQGxeLnEBOw_aem_perl5hrtwi6aY_jljfb4GQ

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Aliyev Makes More Demands On Armenia

Հոկտեմբեր 03, 2024
 
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Italy - Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev addresses a forum in Cernobbio, northern Italy, on September 6, 2024.
 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev appears to have set further conditions for ending his country’s conflict with Armenia amid Yerevan’s continuing offers to swiftly sign a bilateral peace deal.

In a written message to the participants of two international conferences held in Baku on Wednesday, Aliyev said Armenia must apologize for its “war crimes,” provide the “maps of mass graves” of Azerbaijanis killed during the wars in Nagorno-Karabakh and punish those responsible for their deaths.

“This is one of the effective ways to build peace and trust … If Armenia really wants to achieve peace with Azerbaijan, it must strongly condemn the atrocities committed against captured Azerbaijanis,” he said without elaborating on the allegation.

Aliyev also claimed that Yerevan is refusing to give Baku any information about as many as 4,000 Azerbaijanis who he said went missing in Karabakh during the 1991-1994 war. The Azerbaijani government had given different numbers of missing persons at different times, raising questions about their credibility.

Shortly after the 2020 Karabakh war, the Armenian side handed over to Baku the bodies of 51 soldiers killed during the six-week hostilities as well as the remains of 140 other Azerbaijanis who had died in the early 1990s.

Gagik Melkonian, a senior Armenian parliamentarian representing the ruling Civil Contract party, pointed to this fact on Thursday when he commented on Aliyev’s latest demands. He dismissed them as an excuse to “constantly drag out the signing of the peace agreement.”

“They will come up with something else tomorrow,” Melkonian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

Speaking at a security forum in Poland on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan similarly complained that the Azerbaijanis continue to “come up with new preconditions” for the peace accord. He claimed that they “just don’t want to sign the document” and may be planning to attack Armenia. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejected Mirzoyan’s remarks as “disinformation.”

The document cited by Mirzoyan would contain at least 13 of the 16 articles of a draft peace treaty which Yerevan says have been fully agreed by the two sides. Baku has repeatedly rejected an Armenian proposal to remove the remaining sticking points from the text and try to settle them in the future. It has also made clear that Armenia must change its constitution before it can make peace with Azerbaijan.

In July, Aliyev again described much of modern-day Armenia as “western Azerbaijan” and said Yerevan must ensure the safe return of ethnic Azerbaijanis who had fled it in the late 1980s. He made a similar statement earlier this week.

Armenian opposition leaders maintain that Aliyev has no intention to sign any agreement before clinching more far-reaching concessions from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. They say that Pashinian’s appeasement policy is only encouraging the Azerbaijani strongman to make more demands on Yerevan.

 

 

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