Author: Emil Karabekian

                                        Friday, 

U.S. Tells Azerbaijan To Pull Back Troops


U.S. - The US State Department is seen on November 29, 2010 in Washington, DC.

The United States urged Azerbaijan on Friday to immediately withdraw its troops 
from Armenia’s border areas.

“We expect Azerbaijan to pull back all forces immediately and cease further 
provocation,” a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Jalina Porter, told reporters.

“Military movements in disputed territories are irresponsible and they're also 
unnecessarily provocative,” Porter said, adding that border demarcation issues 
should be resolved through negotiation and discussion.

The State Department reacted more cautiously to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border 
standoff on Thursday, calling on both sides to show “restraint in de-escalating 
the situation peacefully.”

Acting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker had separate phone calls with 
the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers.

Porter’s remarks came shortly after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
accused Azerbaijan of failing to honor a pledge to withdraw its forces from 
Armenian territory occupied by them this week. He again charged that Baku is 
trying to “provoke a large-scale military clash” six months after a 
Russian-brokered ceasefire stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Earlier on Friday, Armenia formally appealed to Russia and the Russian-led 
Collective Security Treaty Organization for military support.

Azerbaijan has denied sending troops across the border and said its forces only 
took up new positions on the Azerbaijani side of the frontier.



France Said To Mull Military Support For Armenia

        • Anush Mkrtchian

Armenia - French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a summit of the 
Francophonie organization in Yerevan, 11 October 2018.

France is exploring the possibility of helping Armenia protect its territorial 
integrity after the latest Azerbaijani incursions, Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian said on Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron voiced on Thursday night strong support for 
Armenia in its ongoing border standoff with Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijani armed forces have crossed into Armenian territory. They must 
withdraw immediately,” Macron tweeted after a phone call with Pashinian.

Pashinian gave some details of their conversation during an emergency session of 
the Armenian parliament.

“The French president said that he is considering taking the issue to the United 
Nations Security Council and that with a UN mandate France is also prepared to 
provide, if necessary, military support to international efforts to resolve this 
issue,” he told lawmakers.

“I find it very important that permanent members of the Security Council 
communicate with each other on this topic. We are very closely monitoring these 
developments and making our positions clear,” added the prime minister.

In a statement on the phone call, the presidential Elysee Palace said Macron 
reaffirmed “France's commitment to the territorial integrity of Armenia.” It 
also said that Paris would like the UN Security Council to try to ease tensions 
in the region and “restore stability and security” there.

Armenia maintains close military ties with Russia on a bilateral basis and as a 
member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led 
military bloc uniting six ex-Soviet states. It has asked both Moscow and the 
CSTO as a whole to help it deal with Azerbaijani troops which it says crossed 
several sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border this week.



Yerevan Warns Of Escalation Of Armenian-Azeri Border Standoff (UPDATED)

        • Artak Khulian

Armenia - Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian speaks with journalists in Goris, 
.

Armenian-Azerbaijani crisis talks have yielded no agreement so far, Deputy Prime 
Minister Tigran Avinian said on Friday, warning of a further escalation of a 
military standoff at disputed sections of Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan.

“Negotiations are going on, but as of now we have no final results,” Avinian 
told reporters during a visit to Syunik province where Azerbaijani troops 
reportedly advanced several kilometers into Armenian territory early on 
Wednesday.

“I believe that we will reach a resolution in one way or another,” he said. 
“It’s very clear that the Azerbaijani armed forces have crossed into Armenia’s 
sovereign territory. We definitely want to resolve the situation peacefully and 
are ready to hold discussions in a calm manner.”

“Having said that, we must be prepared for possible bad developments and also be 
ready to defend our sovereign territory. In the event of such a bad scenario we 
expect the support of our allies. But I hope that we will avoid any bad scenario 
and solve all problems through negotiations,” added Avinian.

Armenian and Azerbaijani military officials met on the border on Thursday to try 
to resolve the dispute. Representatives of Russian troops deployed in Syunik 
also reportedly took part in the negotiations that lasted for several hours.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed later on Friday that during those talks 
the Azerbaijani side agreed to withdraw from Armenian territory occupied by it 
but has still not honored that pledge in full.

“Since yesterday the Azerbaijanis have left some places but their presence in 
our territory continues,” Pashinian said during an emergency session of the 
Armenian parliament. He did not specify those locations.

Pashinian also said Armenian, Azerbaijani as well as Russian officers held fresh 
talks on Friday. The talks were “interrupted” and will resume on Saturday, he 
added.

Azerbaijan insisted late on Thursday that its troops did not cross into Armenia 
and simply took up positions on the Azerbaijani side of the frontier which were 
not accessible in winter months. The Foreign Ministry in Baku also said that the 
border between the two South Caucasus states has not been demarcated ever since 
the Soviet breakup.

Echoing statements by Pashinian, Avinian said that Azerbaijani military 
commanders on the ground are producing “false maps” to justify their actions.

Pashinian stated in this regard that maps brought by Russian negotiators also 
show that hundreds of Azerbaijani soldiers remain within Armenia’s 
internationally recognized borders. Yerevan will use this fact as further proof 
of the violation of Armenia’s territorial integrity, he said.

Pashinian suggested on Thursday Baku may be intent on “provoking an armed clash” 
with Armenia six months after a Russian-brokered agreement stopped the war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh. He noted that the Azerbaijani military is scheduled to start 
large-scale exercises on Sunday and pointed to Azerbaijani President Ilham 
Aliyev’s recent threats to forcibly open a “corridor” connecting Azerbaijan to 
its Nakhichevan exclave via Syunik.

The Armenian prime minister went on to announce that Yerevan will ask the 
Collective Security Treaty Organization to invoke Article 2 of its founding 
treaty which requires the Russian-led military bloc to discuss a collective 
response to grave security threats facing its member states.

Pashinian told lawmakers on Friday that he has also written to Russian President 
Vladimir Putin to formally request Russian military assistance in line with 
bilateral Russian-Armenian defense treaties.

The two men spoke by phone on Thursday night. According to Pashinian, Putin too 
thinks that the Azerbaijani forces crossed into Armenia and must be withdrawn.



Putin, Pashinian Discuss Armenian-Azeri Border Crisis


Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin 
meet at the Kremlin in Moscow, April 7, 2021

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin late 
on Thursday to discuss mounting tensions on Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan.

Pashinian’s office said he briefed Putin on the situation at volatile sections 
of the border, again accusing Azerbaijani troops of advancing several kilometers 
into in Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province earlier this week.

A statement by the office said Putin “found further escalation unacceptable” and 
expressed hope that the border standoff will be resolved soon. It added that he 
backed Armenian demands for the immediate withdrawal of the Azerbaijani forces.

The Kremlin did not confirm this in its readout of the late-night phone call.

It said Putin stressed the need for “strict compliance” with all terms of a 
Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh last November. He also assured Pashinian that Moscow will 
continue its “active mediation efforts.”

The phone conversation came hours after the Armenian government decided to ask 
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to take action against what 
it regards as Azerbaijani incursions into Armenia’s internationally recognized 
territory.

Pashinian informed Putin that it wants the CSTO to invoke Article 2 of its 
founding treaty which commits the Russian-led military bloc to discussing a 
collective response to grave security threats facing its member states.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the Armenian 
premier did not ask for Russian military aid during the phone call.

Russia deployed soldiers and border guards in Syunik during and after the 
Karabakh war to help the Armenian military defend the region against possible 
Azerbaijani attacks. Representatives of Russian troops stationed there are 
reportedly involved in ongoing crisis talks between Armenian and Azerbaijani 
military officials.


Armenia - General Alexander Dvornikov (C), commander of Russia's Southern 
Military District, meets with Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian, 
Yerevan, .

Most of those troops are part of the Russian military base headquartered in the 
Armenian city of Gyumri. The base is in turn subordinate to Russia’s Southern 
Military District.

The district commander, General Alexander Dvornikov, visited Armenia on Friday, 
meeting with Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian. The Armenian Defense 
Ministry said they discussed the situation in Syunik and ways of ending the 
continuing standoff between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.

Harutiunian also spoke with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in what was 
their second phone conversation in as many days. A ministry statement said he 
briefed Shoigu on the Armenian military’s actions taken in the contested border 
areas. Both the areas and Azerbaijani military personnel deployed there are 
under close Armenian surveillance, said Harutiunian.

The secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, and his Armenian 
opposite number, Armen Grigorian, also discussed the border standoff by phone. 
According to Grigorian’s office, Patrushev said “the Russian side is working 
intensively at all levels to quickly resolve the problem.”

Baku says its troops did not cross into Armenia and simply took up positions on 
the Azerbaijani side of the frontier which were not accessible in winter months.



France Demands ‘Azeri Troop Withdrawal From Armenia’


PORTUGAL -- French President Emmanuel Macron attends a press conference at the 
end of an Informal Meeting of EU Heads of State and Government held in Porto, 
May 8, 2021.

French President Emmanuel Macron demanded on Thursday night that Azerbaijan 
immediately withdraw its troops from Armenia’s border areas which he said were 
occupied by them.

“Azerbaijan’s armed forces have invaded Armenian territory. They must be 
immediately withdrawn,” Macron wrote on his Facebook page shortly before 
midnight.

“To the Armenian people, I once again say: France stands in solidarity and will 
remain so,” he added in an Armenian-language post.

Macron commented on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border standoff after speaking with 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian by phone.

“The President of the Republic recalled France's commitment to the territorial 
integrity of Armenia and stressed the need for an immediate withdrawal of 
Azerbaijani troops from Armenian territory,” Macron’s office said in a statement.

It said he also expressed hope that the UN Security Council could help to 
“restore stability and security in this region.”

According to an official Armenian readout of the phone call, Pashinian thanked 
Macron for his “friendly attitude” towards Armenia. It said the two men 
discussed ongoing efforts to end the standoff sparked by Azerbaijani troop 
movements along some sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Azerbaijani forces reportedly advanced several kilometers into Armenia’s Syunik 
province early on Wednesday. According to the Armenian Defense Ministry, they 
also breached two other sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on Thursday.

Azerbaijan insisted later in the day that its troops did not cross into Armenia 
and simply took up positions on the Azerbaijani side of the frontier which were 
not accessible in winter months. The Foreign Ministry in Baku also said that the 
border between the two South Caucasus states has not been demarcated ever since 
the Soviet breakup.

The conflicting statements came as Armenian and Azerbaijani military officials 
met on the border to try to resolve the dispute. Representatives of Russian 
troops deployed in Syunik also reportedly took part in the negotiations that 
lasted for several hours. No concrete agreements were announced afterwards.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the rising tensions with his 
Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts in separate phone calls.

Meanwhile, the United States urged both sides to show “restraint in 
de-escalating the situation peacefully.”

“We are closely following reports of increased tensions along a non-demarcated 
portion of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border,” tweeted Ned Price, a U.S. State 
Department spokesman.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian and acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of 
State Philip Reeker discussed the situation by phone.


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