Thursday, November 5, 2020
Armenia Prioritizes Ceasefire Verification Mechanisms For Karabakh
• Tatevik Lazarian
Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian (archive photo)
Armenia believes the introduction of mechanisms for the verification of a
possible future ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh is a priority at the moment.
Speaking to reporters while attending a budget discussion session in the
Armenian parliament on Thursday, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian
said that work in this direction is currently underway.
Armenia and Azerbaijan three times reached ceasefire agreements since the
current armed conflict broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 27. But the
October 10, 17 and 26 ceasefires brokered by Russia, France and the United
States, respectively, did not hold, with each side accusing the other of
violating the deals reached with the mediation of the three co-chair countries
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group.
Mnatsakanian said today that verification mechanisms were important in this view
even if no ceasefire has been achieved yet.
“The introduction of a verification system will make it possible to carry out
this function more effectively. In this sense, the work is being pursued today
as well. And we need to achieve that,” he told reporters.
Mnatsakanian described ceasefire verification mechanisms as a priority issue
today. “Under the direction of Turkey, Azerbaijan has violated the reached
agreements three times, but this does not mean that the work on establishing a
ceasefire will not continue. It does not follow from this that we will stop
working on establishing a ceasefire, and we will be working not alone, but also
with the co-chairs,” he said.
Mnatsakanian said that the basis of the current work is the four points
expressed in the joint statement of the foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Russia that was published after nearly 11-hour-long talks in Moscow on
October 10.
In that joint statement, the three ministers announced an imminent ceasefire
which eventually did not hold “for the humanitarian purposes of exchanging
prisoners of war and other captives and bodies of the dead.”
The statement said that while “concrete parameters of the ceasefire regime will
be agreed upon additionally,” Baku and Yerevan were “embarking on substantive
negotiations with the aim of rapidly achieving a peaceful settlement.” It also
made it clear that the talks will be held “on the basis of the basic principles
of settlement.”
It was an apparent reference to a framework peace accord that was first drafted
by the Russian, French and U.S. co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in 2007 and
has been repeatedly modified since then. The conflicting parties have for years
disagreed on some key elements of the proposed deal.
Amid stalled negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, fighting continues
unabated in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
Armenia-backed ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh claimed to have
repulsed attacks by Azerbaijani armed forces in several directions of the
frontline, including in the east, on Thursday. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan gave a
different account of the developments along the frontlines, claiming that its
armed forces have been making more gains on the ground.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s de facto ethnic Armenian leader Arayik Harutiunian on
Thursday reportedly visited Shushi (Shusha), a strategic town sitting on a
mountaintop and overlooking the region’s capital Stepanakert.
In a Facebook post Harutiunian said that in Shushi he met with defenders of the
town “to discuss the strategy of the struggle against the numerous forces of the
enemy.”
He said “all possible efforts are being made to keep the stronghold town
impregnable.”
France Raps Turkey’s ‘Aggressive Actions’ In Nagorno-Karabakh
• Gevorg Stamboltsian
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (archive photo)
France has accused Turkey of pursuing aggressive policies near European borders,
including in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In an interview with the Europe 1 radio station on Thursday French Foreign
Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said there have been serious disagreements between
Paris and Ankara for several years due to Turkey’s actions.
“Turkey is taking aggressive actions in the immediate vicinity of Europe, in
particular in Libya, in the eastern Mediterranean, in Nagorno-Karabakh and in
northern Iraq. Now a new factor has emerged. In recent days, the tone of
President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s statements addressed to France and Europe has
changed. Erdogan regularly makes statements full of hatred and violence,
including against French President Emmanuel Macron,” said Le Drian, adding that
“Paris demands that Turkey abandon such behavior.”
The top French diplomat’s remarks came a day after a Turkish ultranationalist
organization, Gray Wolves, was banned in France.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has claimed that “this decision also
shows that the French government has become totally a captive of the Armenian
circles.”
Ankara claims that Gray Wolves does not exist as an organization, and that the
decision of the French government is “imaginary, hypocritical and provocative”
in nature. Still it calls it “unacceptable to ban symbols.”
“We will reciprocate to this decision in the strongest way,” the Turkish Foreign
Ministry said in a statement issued on November 4.
In Turkey, the Gray Wolves are linked to the far-right Nationalist Movement
Party (MHP) of Devlet Bahceli. The party has a political alliance with President
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The plan to ban the Gray Wolves came after two anti-Armenian demonstrations by
people carrying Turkish flags in the Lyon and Grenoble areas. The demonstrations
are believed to be tied to the Gray Wolves.
French media also reported that a monument in Lyon dedicated to the victims of
the 1915 massacres of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey was defaced with pro-Turkish
Gray Wolves slogans and “RTE” in reference to Erdogan.
The Gray Wolves are considered the militant wing of the MHP, known for their
pan-Turkish and far-right ideology.
In the past, they are believed to have had ties to the Turkish “deep state” and
mafia, having been involved in street violence against leftists in Turkey during
the 1970s and 1980s. Its members have also been involved in attacks on Kurdish
activists and aided the state’s fight against Kurdish nationalist militants.
There have been tensions in France between its large ethnic Armenian population
and Turkish communities over the ongoing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, in which
Turkey has strongly backed its ally Azerbaijan.
No Let-Up In Karabakh Fighting Amid Conflicting Frontline Reports
Armenian soldiers stand as troops hold positions on the frontline during ongoing
fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. October 25, 2020
Heavy fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone continued during the night
and into the morning, with ethnic Armenian forces and Azerbaijan providing
different accounts of the developments along the frontlines.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian Defense Army said on Thursday that
Azerbaijan’s armed forces attempted an offensive in the eastern direction of the
frontline at around 10:30 am, using armored vehicles in the onslaught.
“Due to competent actions of Defense Army units and reservists the enemy has
been thrown back, leaving behind one armored vehicle, one truck and many killed
soldiers on the battlefield,” the Defense Army said.
Overnight Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian forces also reported activities of
Azerbaijan’s armed forces in other directions, claiming that all attacks by
Azeri assault groups have been repulsed.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said that fighting continued with
varying intensity mostly in the direction of Aghdara (Martakert) and Khojavend
(Martuni) where it said Armenian forces lost both soldiers and materiel and
retreated.
Both sides have claimed to be in command of the operational situation along the
frontlines. They have also accused each other of targeting civilian areas.
Claims and counterclaims in the current hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh are
often difficult to confirm independently.
The ongoing armed conflict broke out on September 27, with Azerbaijan and ethnic
Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh accusing each other of being the aggressor.
Since then both sides have reported scores of deaths among civilians. Armenians
have also confirmed 1,177 deaths among their military. Azerbaijan does not
disclose its military casualties, considering them a wartime secret. Russia has
estimated as many as 5,000 deaths on both sides.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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