Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Armenia Ready For Compromise Deal With Azerbaijan, Says Pashinian


ARMENIA -- A woman walks in front of a big screen displaying a footage with 
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Yerevan, October 5, 2020

Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are ready to reach a compromise peace agreement 
with Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said late on Tuesday amid 
continuing hostilities in the Karabakh conflict zone.
“Resolution of conflicts must be based on compromises. Nagorno-Karabakh and 
Armenia are ready for concessions as much as Azerbaijan is ready for 
concessions,” Pashinian said in comments to the AFP news agency released by his 
office.

Pashinian also expressed confidence that Russia will fulfill its “contractual 
obligations” and provide necessary assistance to his country “in case of a 
threat to Armenia’s security.”

The comments came on the tenth day of fierce fighting along the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani “line of contact” around Karabakh which has left hundreds 
of soldiers from both sides dead. The hostilities continued despite repeated 
calls for an immediate ceasefire made by Russia, the United States and France, 
the three nations co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group.

Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in the 
conflict zone on Monday during what was their fourth phone conversation since 
September 27. The Kremlin said Putin “again emphasized the urgent need for a 
ceasefire.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Moscow is now engaged in a 
flurry of diplomatic activity in an effort to “help the warring sides stop 
hostilities and start a politico-diplomatic process of settlement.”

In a joint statement issued on Monday, the top U.S., Russian and French 
diplomats also called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to “commit without delay to 
resuming substantive negotiations.” They said the talks should focus on 
“existing core principles and relevant international documents well-known by 
both parties.”

It was an apparent reference to the mediating powers’ Basic Principles of the 
conflict’s resolution which were first drafted in 2007 and have been repeatedly 
modified since then. Armenia and Azerbaijan have for years disagreed on some key 
elements of the proposed framework peace deal.



Tehran Threatens ‘Tough’ Action Against Accidental Shelling Of Iranian Territory

        • Heghine Buniatian

RUSSIA -- Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami attends the annual Moscow 
Conference on International Security (MCIS) in Moscow, Russia April 24, 2019

Iran reportedly threatened on Tuesday to take “tough measures” if Armenian and 
Azerbaijani forces continue to accidentally shell Iranian territory close to the 
scene of large-scale hostilities around Nagorno-Karabakh.

The southernmost section of the Karabakh “line of contact” adjacent to 
northwestern Iran is one of the epicenters of the fierce fighting that broke out 
on September 27. Several rockets and other projectiles from the fighting have 
mistakenly landed near Iranian villages over the past week, reportedly injuring 
at least one local resident and prompting stern warnings from Iran.

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said that the accidental shelling is 
continuing despite those warnings.

“The security of our borders is of vital significance to us,” Hatami was 
reported to say. “Any kind of attack is unacceptable to us, and if such actions 
are repeated we will switch from warnings to tougher measures.”

The Armenian Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday fresh fighting near the 
Iranian border marked by the Arax River. “The enemy ignores also the security of 
the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said a ministry spokeswoman.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani discussed the issue with his Azerbaijani 
counterpart Ilham Aliyev in a phone call on Tuesday.

Like other foreign powers, Iran has called for an immediate end to the 
hostilities. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday 
that there can be no military solution to the Karabakh conflict.

Khatibzadeh also announced that Tehran has drawn up a plan to halt the fighting 
and ease tensions in the conflict zone. He did not elaborate.



Syria’s Assad Also Accuses Turkey Of Sending ‘Terrorists’ To Karabakh


SYRIA -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad speaking during an interview with 
Russia Today in Damascus, March 5, 2020

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday joined Armenia and France in 
accusing Turkey of sending Syrian rebel fighters to fight in the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone on Azerbaijan’s side.

Assad also blamed Ankara and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 
particular for the war in Karabakh that erupted on September 27.

“They [the Turks] are the ones who started this conflict,” he told the Russian 
RIA Novosti news agency. “They encouraged this conflict.”

“We can say for sure that they have been using terrorists of Syrian and other 
nationalities in Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said.

In recent weeks Western media and Syrian opposition sources have quoted members 
of Islamist rebel groups in areas of northern Syria under Turkish control as 
saying that they are deploying to Azerbaijan in coordination with the Turkish 
government. Most of them have given financial reasons for agreeing to 
participate in hostilities in and around Karabakh.

Armenia has seized upon those reports and presented its own purported evidence 
of Syrian mercenaries recruited by Ankara.

France has also alleged such deployment, with President Emmanuel Macron saying 
that at least 300 “Syrian fighters from jihadist groups” were flown from Turkey 
to Azerbaijan ahead of the flare-up of violence in Karabakh.

Russia has similarly expressed serious concern over the reported presence of 
Middle Eastern “terrorists and mercenaries” in the Karabakh conflict zone and 
demanded their “immediate withdrawal from the region.”

Asked to comment on the reports, Assad said: “Definitely we can confirm it. Not 
because we have evidence. Sometimes if you don’t have evidence you have 
indications.”

“Turkey used those terrorists coming from different countries in Syria. They 
used the same method in Libya. They used Syrian terrorists in Libya, maybe with 
other nationalities,” he told RIA Novosti.

“So it’s self-evident and very much probable that they are using them in 
Nagorno-Karabakh,” added the Syrian leader.

Assad’s regime has been at odds with Ankara but strongly backed by Moscow 
throughout the Syrian civil war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Assad’s statements later in the 
day. “We attentively familiarize ourselves with all statements by heads of 
state,” he said.

Both Ankara and Baku deny using Turkey’s proxy fighters against Karabakh 
Armenian forces.

Visiting Baku on Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reaffirmed 
Ankara’s strong support for Azerbaijani military operations along the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani “line of contact” around Karabakh.

“Turkey and the Turkish people are ready to provide any assistance to Azerbaijan 
in any sphere if need be,” Cavusoglu was reported to say at a meeting with 
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.



Amnesty International Decries Use Of Cluster Bombs Against Karabakh Civilians

        • Naira Bulghadarian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Smoke billows above buildings in Stepanakert, October 4, 2020

Amnesty International has condemned what it described as the apparent use by the 
Azerbaijani army of cluster bombs in the shelling of civilian areas in 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Over the weekend, footage consistent with the use of cluster munitions in the 
city of Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, was published by the 
region’s de facto authorities,” the London-based human rights group said in a 
statement issued late on Monday.

“Amnesty International’s Crisis Response experts were able to trace the location 
of the footage to residential areas of Stepanakert, and identified Israeli-made 
M095 DPICM cluster munitions that appear to have been fired by Azerbaijani 
forces,” added the statement.

“Cluster bombs are inherently indiscriminate weapons, and their deployment in 
residential areas is absolutely appalling and unacceptable,” it quoted Denis 
Krivosheev, a senior Amnesty representative, as saying. “As fighting continues 
to escalate civilians must be protected, not deliberately targeted or recklessly 
endangered.”

Krivosheev stressed that the use of cluster munitions, which scatter many 
bomblets over a wide area, is “banned under international humanitarian law.”


NAGORNO KARABAKH -- An injured man receives medical treatment after shelling by 
Azerbaijani artillery, Stepanakert, October 4, 2020

Stepanakert and other Karabakh towns have been heavily shelled by Azerbaijani 
forces in recent days, forcing many of their residents to hide in bomb shelters 
or flee to Armenia. Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman, Artak Beglarian, has 
accused Baku of deliberately targeting the disputed region’s civilian residents 
and infrastructure.

According to Beglarian, 19 Karabakh civilians have been killed and 80 others 
wounded since the September 27 outbreak of large-scale hostilities along the 
“line of contact” around Karabakh. The fighting has also left two residents of 
Armenian villages close to the Azerbaijani border dead.


AZERBAIJAN -- Firefighters battle the fire after a shelling in the city of 
Barda, October 5, 2020

For its part, Azerbaijan has reported extensive Armenian shelling of Azerbaijani 
cities and villages. Authorities in Baku said on Tuesday that 27 Azerbaijani 
civilians have died as a result.

“Azerbaijan reported that the Armenian forces attacked civilian areas in the 
country’s second largest city of Ganja, as well as other towns,” Amnesty 
International said in this regard.

“While Amnesty International experts have verified that 300mm Smerch rocket 
artillery systems do appear to have been used by Armenian forces, the 
photographic and video evidence available from the Azerbaijani side does not yet 
allow for conclusive analysis of its specific targets, nor whether the rocket 
warheads contained cluster munitions,” added the watchdog.



Armenia Hails Mediators’ Calls For Karabakh Ceasefire (UPDATED)


ARMENIA -- A man walks past a shop decorated with flags of Armenia and 
Nagorno-Karabakh in Yerevan, October 6, 2020

Armenia welcomed on Tuesday the latest calls for an “immediate and 
unconditional” halt to hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone made by 
France, Russia and the United States.

In a joint statement issued on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 
Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Jean-Yves Le Drian of France 
condemned “in the strongest terms” the escalation of violence and, in 
particular, “disproportionate” shelling of civilian areas.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry hailed the statement, saying that the strong 
condemnation applies to Azerbaijan’s “unprecedented massive targeting of the 
civilian population and infrastructure” in Karabakh.

“We once again stress that there is no alternative to the peaceful settlement 
and the peace process, and any attempt to resolve the conflict by military means 
will be resolutely averted,” said the ministry.


ARMENIA -- Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh stay at a hotel, in the Armenian 
border city of Goris, October 5, 2020.

As of Tuesday morning, the Azerbaijani government did not react to the joint 
appeal by the top U.S., Russian and French diplomats. Baku has until now made 
the end of the hostilities conditional on Armenian withdrawal from Karabakh.

Meanwhile, fighting on the Karabakh frontlines appeared to have eased late on 
Monday. Shushan Stepanian, an Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman, said the 
following morning that the situation there was “relatively calm” on the night 
from Monday to Tuesday.


AZERBAIJAN -- People stand next to a destroyed car in a damaged area of the city 
of Ganja following a reportedly Armenian rocket strike, October 4, 2020

“In case of further escalations, the entire responsibility will be borne by the 
military-political leadership of Azerbaijan,” Stepanian wrote on Facebook.

Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army likewise described the situation as “relatively 
stable but tense.” It said its troops are ready for “any development of events.”

The Azerbaijani military also did not report major fighting overnight.

The hostilities reportedly resumed, however, in the afternoon. Azerbaijan’s 
Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov said he has ordered his troops to continue their 
“counteroffensive.”

The Armenian side said Azerbaijani forces launched a “large-scale attack” at the 
southernmost section of the “line of contact” bordering Iran. Stepanian said 
that Karabakh Armenian forces are “methodically” destroying “enemy capabilities.”

Stepanian reported about an hour later that the Azerbaijani army resumed rocket 
strikes on the Karabakh capital Stepanakert. Earlier in the day she strongly 
denied Baku’s claims that the Armenians are again shelling civilian areas of 
Azerbaijan.

It also emerged that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visited Karabakh on 
Monday for the first time since the start of the war. A short video released by 
the Armenian government showed Pashinian meeting with Karabakh’s top political 
and military leaders and discussing the situation on the frontlines.



U.S., Russia, France Step Up Calls For Karabakh Ceasefire


FRANCE -- French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Russian counterpart 
Sergei Lavrov attend a joint news conference after a meeting at the Quai d'Orsay 
in Paris, November 27, 2018

The United States, Russia and France, stepped up late on Monday their calls for 
an immediate halt to the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that its growing 
impact on civilians poses an “unacceptable threat to the stability of the 
region.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of 
Russia and Jean-Yves Le Drian of France condemned “in the strongest terms” the 
escalation of violence in the Karabakh conflict zone.

“The Ministers stress unconditionally that recent attacks allegedly targeting 
civilian centers … and the disproportionate nature of such attacks constitute an 
unacceptable threat to the stability of the region,” they said in a joint 
statement.

They urged the conflicting parties to accept an “immediate and unconditional 
ceasefire.”

The presidents of the three countries co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group already 
called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities” in a joint statement issued 
on October 1. They also urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to “commit without delay to 
resuming substantive negotiations.”

Armenia welcomed the U.S., Russian and French presidents’ statement, saying it 
is willing to engage in peace talks mediated by the Minsk Group co-chairs.

But Azerbaijan effectively rejected the mediators’ appeal. Azerbaijani President 
Ilham Aliyev was reported to say on Monday that the mediators must first give 
Baku guarantees on the “withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijan’s occupied 
territories.”

Pompeo, Lavrov and Le Drian stressed that their countries are “determined to 
exercise fully their mandate” to help find a peaceful solution to the Karabakh 
conflict. “As such, they will firmly continue to advance their engagement with 
the sides, and urge them to commit now to resuming the settlement process on the 
basis of existing core principles and relevant international documents 
well-known by both parties,” concluded their statement.

Speaking in Moscow earlier on Monday, Lavrov said the three mediating powers 
should not only issue joint statements butt also work out “concrete steps” that 
could stop the war in Karabakh. He said he has discussed that with Le Drian.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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