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 Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.