Author: Arsine Chaltikian

Moscow says Baku, Yerevan agreed to hold fresh round of peace treaty talks in Russia

Arsine Chaltikian
 TASS 
Russia –
"We will let you know the dates of the specific events when all that is completely agreed upon," Maria Zakharova said

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to hold another round of peace treaty talks in Russia, with the exact dates to be announced later, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

"I want to say that we are not letting up in our efforts to provide comprehensive assistance to Azerbaijan and Armenia to prepare a peace treaty between the countries. The partners have accepted a proposal to hold another round of bilateral talks on our territory. We will let you know the dates of the specific events when all that is completely agreed upon," she said at a news conference.

Baku and Yerevan have been disputing Nagorno-Karabakh since February 1988, when it announced its secession from the Azerbaijani SSR. The situation in the region escalated on September 27, 2020, as intense fighting broke out. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the complete cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at their positions, some areas went over to Baku, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line and in the Lachin corridor. Subsequently, the leaders of the three countries adopted several more joint statements on the situation in the region. Last year, Azerbaijan and Armenia began discussing a peace treaty.

Two bullets fired at building of Turkish opposition party

Arsine Chaltikian

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 16:19, 31 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. The building of a Turkish opposition party in Istanbul was hit by two bullets overnight, its leader said on Friday, in what she described as an attempt to scare party members ahead of landmark presidential and parliamentary elections next month.

There were no reports of anybody being hurt in the shooting, which targeted the Istanbul office of the IYI Party, Reuters reported.

One bullet hit the ground floor and another the third floor, IYI party leader Meral Aksener told reporters.

"This is an attempt to scare members of a political party just one month and a half before the elections. This is unacceptable. You cannot scare us but this is an insult to voters," Aksener said.

The Istanbul governor's office said the police had launched an investigation into the incident.

The IYI Party is part of a six-party opposition alliance which has nominated Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) as their candidate to challenge President Tayyip Erdogan in the May 14 elections.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a CHP member, condemned the incident and Kilicdaroglu called on authorities to investigate.

The spokesperson for Erdogan's ruling AK Party, Omer Celik, also condemned the incident.

Anti-Armenian Hate Flyers Discovered in Glendale; Investigation Underway

Arsine Chaltikian
April 1 2023

Officials in Glendale have condemned anti-Armenian Flyers found posted on light poles near St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church and in other areas of the city.

Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian and other officials held a news conference Friday at Glendale City Hall to discuss the discovery of the flyers, which contained language denying the Armenian Genocide and minimizing the suffering of the Armenian people.

“As mayor of Glendale, I’m very disturbed and upset that speech inciting violence against Armenians has visited our city by way of individuals vandalizing our city with hate-filled flyers,” Kassakhian said in a statement. “Our police are taking this issue seriously and will be investigating this as a hate crime. I speak for our residents and our council when I say that Glendale is not a place for hate speech against Armenians or any other group.”

The Armenian National Committee of America Glendale Chapter also denounced the flyers.

“We are extremely concerned by the dissemination of these appalling anti-Armenian flyers in Glendale calling for the continuation of the Armenian Genocide,” ANCA Glendale Chapter Chair Lucy Petrosian said in a statement.

“We are currently working with the Glendale Police Department to ensure this act of hate is investigated, and the perpetrators are brought to justice. This is yet another tragic reminder of how the incitement and institutionalization of anti-Armenian hate by the Azerbaijani government has threatened Armenian lives not only in Artsakh and Armenia, but across the diaspora,” Petrosian said.

“As we approach the 108th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, these hate flyers are a stark reminder that we must remain vigilant against the forces of discrimination, hatred and genocide denial,” Petrosian said. “Promoting the continuation of such atrocities is not only morally repugnant — it also constitutes a direct threat to our community’s safety and well-being.”

The flyers, which were distributed in the heart of the Armenian-American community of Glendale, promoted the “completion of the Armenian Genocide,” according to ANCA.

The incident comes months after similar flyers calling on Turkey and Azerbaijan to “wipe Armenia off the map” were distributed in Beverly Hills prior to a demonstration by the Armenian Youth Federation in protest of Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh, which has deprived the region’s 120,000 Armenians of access to food, fuel, medicine and other vital supplies for more than 100 days, ANCA said.

“The Glendale Police Department and I stand with the entire Glendale community against all incidents of hate,” Glendale police Chief Manuel Cid said in a statement. “We will use all the resources available to us to fully investigate any criminal acts associated with this incident while we work in collaboration with our community leaders moving forward.”

Iran’s ex-ambassador to Baku: Israel fueling tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia

Arsine Chaltikian
                                                           

ByIFP Editorial Staff




Iran’s former ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan says Israel is covertly and indirectly encouraging Baku to play a negative role in the region.

Mohsen Pakaeen was speaking during an interview with Entekhab online media outlet.

He said while selling arms to Azerbaijan, the Zionist regime also cooperates with Armenia secretly.

Pakaeen added that Tel Aviv’s goal is to prolong the war in the Caucasus so that it can maintain its influence in the region.

Asked about the likelihood of a war between Iran and Azerbaijan, he said the major conflict is between Azerbaijan and Armenia and Iran is only playing a mediating role alongside Russia with the aim of easing tensions between Baku and Yerevan.

However, Iran, he noted, will continue supporting the territorial integrity of regional countries as it is opposed to any change in geographical borders.

According him, Tehran believes that such changes could ignite other wars and pave the way for the military expedition of extra-regional countries to the Caucasus. Pakaeen warned that if Azerbaijan seeks to capture the Zangzour corridor by force, then it’s likely that the US will intervene.

He said the corridor is part of Armenian soil but this has not been specified in the Moscow peace treaty that ended the 2020 conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Pakaeen added that this has provided Baku with an excuse to lay a claim to Zangzour.

He said Russia’s recent position against Azerbaijan is a deterrent because based on the Moscow agreement, Russia is monitoring the ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

https://ifpnews.com/irans-ex-ambassador-to-baku-israel-fueling-tension-between-azerbaijan-and-armenia/






Armenian serviceman believed to have accidentally crossed into Azeri-controlled territory

Arsine Chaltikian

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 16:46, 21 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. An Armenian serviceman is believed to have accidentally crossed into Azeri-controlled territory after getting lost in low visibility and foggy weather, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The serviceman of the Armed Forces of Armenia was transporting food to an outpost when he got lost, the ministry explained.

Search and rescue operations were launched immediately and “actions are being taken to confirm that the serviceman has appeared in Azerbaijani-controlled territory and return him.”

Azerbaijani forces seize territory in Nagorno-Karabakh

Arsine Chaltikian
March 27 2023

Russia accused Azerbaijani troops of violating the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire agreement. / bne IntelliNews
By bne IntelliNews 
Russia accused Azerbaijani troops of violating the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire agreement on March 20 after they advanced into Nagorno-Karabakh territory.
 
According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the Azerbaijani forces occupied a hill near the Lachin corridor connecting the ethnic Armenian area of Karabakh to Armenia, the area where Azerbaijani protestors have been blocking the main road for over three months. This action violated a key term of the Russian-brokered ceasefire that ended the six-week war in Karabakh, which broke away from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s.
 
The Russian peacekeepers, who have been deployed in the region since the ceasefire, demanded that Azerbaijan withdraw its troops to their previously occupied positions. The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry claimed that its troops took necessary measures to stop Armenia from sending weapons and military personnel through dirt roads parallel to the blocked section of the Lachin corridor. The Armenian and Karabakh leaderships have denied these allegations.
 
The Azerbaijani forces crossed the "line of contact" near the site of a March 5 shootout that left three Karabakh police officers and two Azerbaijani soldiers dead. The Armenian side claimed that an Azerbaijani sabotage group ambushed a vehicle carrying Karabakh police officers before being repelled by Karabakh soldiers deployed nearby. The Russian peacekeepers confirmed that version of events. However, Baku claimed its soldiers came under fire as they tried to check the police van allegedly smuggling weapons from Armenia.
 
Tensions in the conflict have risen significantly since then, with the Armenian government repeatedly accusing Baku of preparing the ground for another attack on Armenia and Karabakh. Meanwhile, authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh have accused the Azerbaijani military of firing at Karabakh Armenian villagers who were cultivating land in their communities.
 
The interior ministry in Stepanakert reported that a group of residents of Machkalashen, a village in Karabakh's Martuni district, came under small arms fire from nearby Azerbaijani army positions as they worked in local vineyards on Thursday and Friday morning. Although the gunfire injured no one, the farmers had to stop their work. The Azerbaijani troops opened fire despite the presence of Russian peacekeepers protecting the farmers.
 
Similar incidents were reported from another Martuni village, Chartar, earlier last week. Local farmers have requested the Russian peacekeeping forces help ensure their security.
 
The reported incidents highlight tensions in the conflict zone more than three months after Azerbaijan blocked Karabakh's sole road to Armenia. The Azerbaijani military has repeatedly accused Armenia this month of transporting military personnel and weapons to Karabakh and threatened to take "resolute" actions to stop the alleged shipments. Yerevan has strongly denied the allegations, saying that Baku may be preparing the ground for launching offensive military operations in Karabakh or along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
 
In March, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry released footage of a Russian armoured vehicle escorting a convoy of trucks along a dirt road running parallel to a section of the Lachin corridor blocked by Azerbaijani government-backed protesters. The ministry portrayed the video as further proof of Baku's allegations. However, the Karabakh Interior Ministry insisted that these and other vehicles using the barely passable road transport only civilians and "humanitarian cargo".
 
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated last week that Armenia and Azerbaijan are still at odds over important terms of a bilateral peace treaty that they have been discussing. The two sides have submitted written proposals regarding the treaty in recent months, but the details have yet to be made public. According to Mirzoyan, there have been discussions and some compromise language, but major issues of primary importance remain unresolved.
 
Parliament speaker Alen Simonian also acknowledged last month that Yerevan and Baku still disagree on three or four elements of the proposed treaty without disclosing them. Baku insists that the peace accord should be based on five principles, including mutual recognition of each other's territorial integrity, including Armenian recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh. 
 
Armenian leaders have been vague about such recognition in their public statements, emphasising the "rights and security" of Karabakh's ethnic Armenian population. Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia's Security Council, recently said that Yerevan is seeking relevant security guarantees for the Karabakh Armenians, which could involve establishing a "demilitarised zone" around Karabakh or an "international presence" in the Armenian-populated territory.


Fears grow of new war between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Arsine Chaltikian
 

ByAni AvetisyanandIsmi Aghayev
Mourners visit the Yerablur Military Memorial Cemetery on 2 April 2022. Photo: Ani Avetisyan/OC Media.

Growing tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in Nagorno-Karabakh have led to fears that a new escalation, or full-scale war, may be inevitable.

Tensions have been on the rise since a deadly clash on 5 March between Nagorno-Karabakh police officers and Azerbaijani troops near the Lachin corridor, which has been blocked for over three months. 

Since then, both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have regularly accused Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire, including reports of civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh coming under fire.

On Wednesday, the Armenian Defence Ministry said a soldier was killed on the border with Nakhchivan, just south of Yerevan.

Baku has also accused Yerevan and Stepanakert of multiple ceasefire violations; on 20 March they said that an Azerbaijani soldier was wounded on the Armenian border in the south. 

Azerbaijan has also accused Russian peacekeepers of escorting Armenian troops and arms to Nagorno-Karabakh, with Armenia denying the reports and Russia reporting only about humanitarian vehicles passing through the Lachin corridor.

Tensions at the border have been accompanied by hostile rhetoric in Baku. During a Novoruz event last week, President Ilham  Aliyev said that if Armenians wished to  ‘live comfortably in an area of 29,000 square kilometres’ — the size of Armenia — they must recognise Azerbaijan’s borders and sign a peace deal ‘according to our conditions’. 

‘If Armenia does not recognise our territorial integrity, we will not recognise their territorial integrity either’, he said. 

Such comments have led to widespread fears in Armenia that Azerbaijan was laying the grounds for an attack on Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia itself.

Tigran Grigoryan, a Yerevan-based political analyst and the head of the Regional  Centre for Democracy and Security, warned that a new escalation was now likely.

 ‘The trend is that every time, [Azerbaijan] are trying to increase the scale of the tension to see what is the international reaction’, Grigoryan told OC Media, adding that Azerbaijan also wanted to test Russia’s ‘red lines’. 

The Azerbaijani incursion into Armenia in September 2022 came to an end after unprecedented international criticism aimed specifically at Azerbaijan.

Grigoryan said Azerbaijani aims in a new escalation might be to force Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh to accept Azerbaijan’s terms, as peace talks remained ‘at an impasse’.

[Listen on the Caucasus Digest: A looming conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and newborn trafficking in Georgia]

Officials in Armenia have also raised the alarm. Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said the current rhetoric coming from Baku suggested a heightened risk of escalation. 

‘There’s always a risk of aggression regardless of the negotiations and Armenia’s constructive approach during the negotiations’, he said.

Mirzoyan added that if war broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh, the region’s Armenian population was at risk of ethnic cleansing. 

Azerbaijani officials and pro-government figures have also poured fuel on the fire.

Following Aliyev’s Novuruz comments, several officials posted similar statements online, stating that Armenia must ‘reciprocate Azerbaijan’s peace proposals’ to be allowed to live in its internationally recognised borders.

Several also switched to using the Armenian name for Armenia — Hayastan — in an apparent attempt to insult Armenia.

Commenting on the situation earlier in March, Azerbaijani writer and activist Samad Shikhi said that the government was attempting to create a pretext for military action by painting the other side as being unwilling to negotiate.

He said the government and pro-government media were already trying to ‘create support for [military action] in society’.

‘It is the state and its propaganda that shape the people’s thinking’, Shikhi wrote. ‘There is only one institution (the government) that creates and manages ideas in Azerbaijan.’

‘The Presidential Administration has tried to publish this kind of information in the media as much as possible, and tried to make it visible to everyone’, he added. 

If a new outbreak of hostilities were to occur, it is unclear what the international response might be.

Russia, Armenia’s traditional ally, has grown increasingly estranged from the Armenian government. 

Speaking on 16 March, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan repeated a claim that Russia was Nagorno-Karabakh’s ‘security guarantor’ as per the 2020 ceasefire agreement that ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. The agreement saw the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to the region.

Pashinyan also urged Russia to apply to the UN Security Council to take measures to protect the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh if their peacekeepers were ‘unable’ to do so. 

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova dismissed his claims, stating that ‘there is no mention of Russian guarantees regarding Karabakh’ in the agreement, and that calls for the security council to intervene were a ‘miraculous ride’.

Azerbaijani official rhetoric has also grown increasingly hostile towards Russia. Since early March, Baku has frequently accused Moscow of escorting Armenian military vehicles and troops to Nagorno-Karabakh bypassing the blockaded Lachin corridor. 

There has also been growing speculation about Tehran’s potential role in any renewed hostilities.

On Wednesday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, met with the Secretary of Armenia’s National Security Council, Armen Grigoryan, in Yerevan. According to Armenia, they discussed ‘regional security’ and the situation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Iran has grown more supportive of Armenia since the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. 

The country has previously stated that it would not allow Azerbaijan to threaten its shared border with Armenia. One of Azerbaijan’s demands to Armenia has been a corridor through southern Armenia connecting the west of Azerbaijan with the exclave of Nakhchivan.

Kani’s visit came as tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran continue to flare.

On 10 March, during a visit to Baku by Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, Azerbaijan accused Iran of violating the country’s airspace. They said a military plane flew along the border around areas in the south that Azerbaijan took control of in 2020, crossing into Azerbaijan and back.


Rep. Schiff leads congressional letter calling out Biden appointee for recklessly ruling out Azerbaijan sanctions

Arsine Chaltikian
Panorama
Armenia –

Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) is collecting signatures on a U.S. House letter calling out newly appointed U.S point person on Armenian-Azerbaijan issues, Louis Bono, for ruling out U.S. sanctions against Azerbaijan for its 100-day blockade of 120,000 Christian Armenians in their indigenous Artsakh homeland, a targeted legislative initiative strongly supported by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), it said on Tuesday.

On March 8th of this year – deep into the second month of Azerbaijan’s blockade, Bono, on his first official trip to the region as Special U.S. Advisor, stated publicly: “This is not a time for sanctions… Sanctions would be counter-productive. It’s not even under consideration at this point.”

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian replied within hours, noting that: “Louis Bono, by taking sanctions on Azerbaijan off the table in his very first public move, signals American weakness, confirming for Ilham Aliyev that the Biden Administration won’t back its anti-blockade talk with concrete action.”

“When our diplomats deliver scripted assurances to Azerbaijan that the United States will not impose any costs or consequences for its blockade of Artsakh, they are – quite openly and intentionally – handing Ilham Aliyev a free pass, signed by Joe Biden, to continue attacking, occupying, and ethnically cleansing indigenous Armenian lands,” added Hamparian.

The Schiff-led Congressional letter states, in part: “We are deeply concerned by your reported comments during the trip ruling out the use of economic and diplomatic sanctions against Azerbaijan for their clear aggression. It was reported that you stated, “this is not a time for sanctions … it’s not even under consideration at this point.” As 120,000 innocent people remain deprived of their basic rights in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) for a third month, due to a blockade that the International Court of Justice (World Court) has ordered Azerbaijan to lift, this is not the time to take any tools off the table.”

In closing, the signatories affirm that: “The United States, the President of the United States, the U.S. State Department, and entire Administration must use all tools at its disposal to ensure the safety of the people of Artsakh, now and in the future, including cessation of financial support to Azerbaijan and imposition of sanctions.”

Azerbaijan MFA threatens Armenia again

Arsine Chaltikian
News.am
Armenia – March 15 2023
16:35, 15.03.2023

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Azerbaijan has threatened Armenia again.

Contrary to the promises and commitments made by Prime Minister Pashinyan on various international platforms, his anti-Azerbaijani propaganda—including rhetoric, disrupting the peace agreement treaty and the efforts of international mediators—does not promise a good future for Armenia. This was stated by the press secretary of Azerbaijani MFA, Aykhan Hajizade, commenting on Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan’s statements during his press conference on Tuesday, APA reported.

"The denial of the fact of forced displacement of Azerbaijanis from their lands on the territory of Armenia by the Prime Minister of Armenia proves that he intends to justify the periodic and targeted policy of [Azerbaijani] ethnic cleansing, which Armenia has been conducting for decades," said the Azerbaijani official.

Armeno-Indica Conference to Take Place at UCLA on March 17 and 18

Arsine Chaltikian
by Contributor

 

 

 

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UCLA Armeno-Indica Conference flyer

LOS ANGELES—The UCLA Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History has organized a two-day international hybrid conference entitled “Armeno-Indica: Four Centuries of Familiarity and Friendship,” which will take place on March 17 and 18 at UCLA. 

This historic conference will celebrate the bicentenary of the founding of Kolkata’s famed Armenian College (est. 1821), one of three centers of Armenian higher learning in the diaspora during the nineteenth century and the only one that has survived and is thriving today.

Bringing together economic, literary, legal, and cultural historians from India, Armenia, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States, the conference highlights how, beginning in the early modern period and continuing to the present, Armenians have traveled to India to make its distant shores and cultures their own. Professor Sanjay Subrahmanyam will deliver the keynote address for this conference. 

“India looms large in the Armenian social imaginary,” stated Sebouh David Aslanian, UCLA’s Richard Hovannisian Professor of Modern Armenian History and director of the Armenian Studies Center at the Promise Armenian Institute. “It was not only the place where the first Armenian proto-constitution for an ‘imagined’ nation-republic was published (Madras 1788/9), it was also the cradle of the first Armenian newspaper (Madras, 1794-1796), the first modern Armenian play (Calcutta 1823), and arguably also where the first Eastern Armenian novel appeared (Calcutta, 1846), as well as where the first Armenian ‘feminist’ tract (Calcutta, 1847) was published,” Aslanian added.  

The conference will be held at UCLA Royce Hall 314 on Friday, March 17 and at the Fowler Museum at UCLA on Saturday, March 18. Pre-registration is required for this hybrid event, which will offer remote online participation. Food and entertainment will be provided for in-person participants. For event details and to register for in-person attendance or participation via the Zoom webinar platform, visit the event website.

The conference is co-sponsored by the Fowler Museum at UCLA, the Armenian Studies Center at the Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA, the USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies, the National Association of Armenian Studies and Research, the UCLA Narekatsi Chair in Armenian Studies, and the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies.