Tuesday,
Iran Offers To Ease Armenian-Azeri Tensions
Russia-- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a news
conference following a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Moscow, June 16,
2020
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif telephoned his Armenian and
Azerbaijani counterparts on Tuesday to discuss the latest ceasefire violations
on the border between Iran’s two South Caucasus neighbors.
The official Iranian news agency IRNA said Zarif urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to
“exercise restraint” and restart talks on a peaceful resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He also expressed Iran’s readiness to help defuse
tensions between the conflicting parties.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry made a similar statement earlier in the day.
“We believe these two neighboring countries should resolve their difference
peacefully, and the Islamic Republic of Iran has always announced its readiness
to help settle this row,” a ministry spokesman said, according to another
Iranian news agency, ISNA.
During the separate phone conversations, Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian
of Armenia and Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan briefed Zarif on the situation on
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Each conflicting side again blamed the other
for heavy fighting that broke out there on Sunday.
According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Zarif told Mammadyarov that
Tehran stands ready to facilitate a Karabakh settlement.
International efforts to end the conflict have long been spearheaded by the
Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe co-headed
by the United States, Russia and France.
Armenian Government Cautiously Upbeat On Curbing COVID-19
• Nane Sahakian
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian speaks in the National Assembly,
Yerevan, .
The Armenia government hopes to significantly reduce the daily number of new
coronavirus cases by September and reopen schools as a result, according to
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian.
Speaking in the parliament on Monday, Avinian said Armenia’s COVID-19 infection
rate has already fallen in recent weeks thanks to more people wearing face masks
in public and practicing social distancing.
“In case this trend continues, it is projected that we will have 140 new
infections a day in early September,” he said during a parliament session that
discussed the government’s decision to extend the coronavirus-related state of
emergency in Armenia by another month.
But he also cautioned: “The projections are very tentative and do not mean that
the downward trend will necessarily continue because there are many factors at
play.”
The daily number of COVID-19 cases registered by the Armenian health authorities
has averaged between 500 and 600 for the past month after growing steadily since
mid-April.
The authorities have reported a total of 32,490 cases and 581 deaths caused by
the virus as of Tuesday morning. The official toll does not include the deaths
of 184 other people also infected with the disease. The Armenian Ministry of
Health says that they died primarily because of other, pre-existing conditions.
Avinian said that the government would have re-imposed a nationwide lockdown had
the spread of the virus continued unabated this summer. The government now hopes
that it will be safe enough for schools, theaters and other cultural
institutions to reopen their doors this autumn, he said.
Liana Torosian, a senior official from the Armenian National Center for Disease
Control and Prevention, likewise spoke on Tuesday of a “certain stabilization”
of the coronavirus situation in the country.
“If this trend continues … we will have satisfactory results in September,”
Torosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “But let’s wait and see how the
situation develops and whether we all will be following the safety rules.”
Armenia Summons Ukraine Envoy Over Pro-Azeri Statement
Ukraine – The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry building in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s ambassador in Yerevan was summoned to the Armenian Foreign Ministry on
Tuesday after his government effectively blamed Armenia for the latest upsurge
in tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry portrayed deadly fighting that broke out on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border on Sunday as Armenian shelling of the Tovuz district
in western Azerbaijan. A ministry statement called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to
“de-escalate the situation” and seek a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh
conflict.
“The Ukrainian side advocates a political settlement of the situation based on
respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of
Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders,” the statement added,
echoing the Azerbaijani position on the conflict’s resolution.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh
Kocharian presented Yerevan’s “assessment” of that statement when spoke with
Ukrainian Ambassador Ivan Kuleba.
Kocharian also briefed Kuleba on “the situation created as a result of
Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions” and, in particular, shelling of Armenian
villages and towns located close to the Azerbaijani border.
Ukraine’s current and former governments have repeatedly voiced support for
Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict. For its part, Armenia has consistently
voted against UN General Assembly resolutions condemning Russia’s actions in
Crimea and upholding Ukrainian sovereignty over the Black Sea peninsula.
Deadly Fighting Continues On Armenian-Azeri Border (UPDATED)
Armenia -- Soldiers of an artillerty unit of the Armenian army train at a
military base in Tavush province, September 18, 2019.
Seven Azerbaijani servicemen, including an army general, and four Armenian
soldiers were killed on Tuesday in fierce fighting that continued on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border for the third consecutive day.
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Defense Minister Kerim Veliyev said Major-General Polad
Hashimov and Colonel Ilgar Mirzoyev died “like heroes” in the western Tovuz
district bordering Armenia’s northern Tavush province, the scene of the fighting.
According to Azerbaijani news agencies, Veliyev also confirmed the deaths of
five other Azerbaijani soldiers, among them two army majors. He gave no other
details of the incident.
At least four other Azerbaijani soldiers were killed shortly after skirmishes at
that section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier, the worst in years, broke out
on Sunday.
The Armenian military reported, meanwhile, that it has suffered its first
casualties since the start of the hostilities. Shushan Stepanian, the
spokeswoman for Armenia’s Defense Ministry, said Major Garush Hambardzumian and
Captain Sos Elbakian were killed by enemy fire.
The ministry reported later in the day two more combat deaths in the Armenian
army ranks. It said both victims were junior sergeants.
Stepanian said in the morning that an Azerbaijani military drone attacked
civilian infrastructure in Berd, an Armenian town close to the border section.
She said none of the town residents were hurt as a result.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry condemned the reported drone attack, saying that
the Azerbaijani side will receive an “adequate response.”
According to the authorities in Yerevan, Azerbaijani forces shelled two Armenian
border villages on Monday.
Baku likewise accused the Armenian side of shelling Azerbaijani villages located
along the heavily militarized border. It said that a 75-year-old resident of one
of those villages was killed on Tuesday.
The conflicting sides accuse each other of provoking the escalation with
attempts to seize enemy positions in the mountainous area.
The truce violations there continued despite calls for an immediate end to the
skirmishes voiced by Russia, the European Union and the United States. The U.S.,
Russian and French mediators trying to a broker a resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict urged Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday resume peace
talks “as soon as possible.”
U.S. -- U.S. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus stands at the lectern
during a press conference at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, June
10, 2019
The U.S. State Department added its voice to the mediators’ appeal and condemned
the deadly violence “in the strongest terms.”
“The United States joins the Minsk Group Co-Chairs in calling for the sides to
resume substantive negotiations as soon as possible and in emphasizing the
importance of returning OSCE monitors to the region as soon as circumstances
allow,” said the department spokesperson, Morgan Ortagus.
For its part, Russia stated through Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday
that it remains “deeply concerned” about the situation on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Peskov also said Moscow is ready to make “mediation efforts” to defuse the
tensions and facilitate progress in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. He pointed
to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s “intensive contacts” with his
Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts.
Lavrov urged Yerevan and Baku to immediately stop hostilities and show
“restraint” during his separate phone conversations with Zohrab Mnatsakanian and
Elmar Mammadyarov.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers also spoke on Monday by phone
with Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief. Borrell tweeted afterwards
that he “underlined the need to defuse tensions and cease fire.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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