Mondady, November 9, 2020
Azerbaijan Downs Russian Helicopter In Armenia ‘By Mistake’
Russia's Mi-24 combat helicopter (archive photo)
Azerbaijan has apologized to Russia over what it described as a “tragic
accident” after a Russian military helicopter was shot down at an
Armenian-Azerbaijani border on Monday.
According to Azerbaijani media, the country’s Foreign Ministry issued a
statement, saying that the downing of the Russian Mi-24 helicopter near
Armenia’s border with the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhijevan was “by mistake” and
was conditioned by the ongoing clashes with Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry added that it was prepared to pay compensation.
Earlier on November 9, Interfax news agency quoted Russia’s Defense Ministry as
confirming that two crew members were killed and one was injured when the
helicopter escorting a convoy of the 102nd Russian military base through the
territory of Armenia was shot down with a surface-to-air missile from a portable
anti-aircraft missile system.
It said the incident happened near the Armenian village of Yeraskh in
southwestern Armenia at about 5:30 pm.
Armenia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations also confirmed on Monday that a
Russian military helicopter had crashed in the valley near the Yeraskh-Paruyr
Sevak road in the southwest of the country.
Russia’s main military base in Armenia is located in the northwestern city of
Gyumri.
Against the background of the unfolding armed conflict between ethnic Armenian
forces and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, on October 31 Armenia formally asked
Russia to start consultations on possible military assistance from Moscow under
a 1997 treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance.
Russia quickly reaffirmed its commitment to Armenia under the treaty, saying
that it will “render all necessary assistance to Yerevan if military operations
take place directly on the territory of Armenia.”
Official representative of Russia’s Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova told Ekho
Moskvy today that while Moscow intends to engage more actively in the settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it is not going to intervene.
Armenians In Karabakh Admit Losing Control Of Strategic Town, Yerevan Claims
‘Battle Is On’
Nagorno-Karabakh -- The fortress walls surrounding the historical center of
Shushi (Shusha)
Ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh fighting against Azerbaijan have
admitted losing control of a strategic town near the region’s main city,
Stepanakert. But officials in Yerevan, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian,
said late on Monday that battles for Shushi are still on.
Fierce battles for Shushi (Shusha) have been waged since late last week as
Armenians claimed to have repelled multiple attacks by Azerbaijan’s armed forces.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared on Sunday that Baku was in control
of the hilltop town located 10 kilometers south of Stepanakert, on one of the
two roads linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. But Armenians did not
immediately admit losing the town.
Still on Monday morning military officials in Yerevan said battles for Shushi
were ongoing. But Nagorno-Karabakh’s de facto ethnic Armenian leader Arayik
Harutiunian already then dropped hints at the possibility that the town might
already be under Azerbaijani control.
In a Facebook post on November 9 morning he said he had visited defense lines of
Stepanakert to talk to “[ethnic Armenian] Defense Army soldiers and volunteers
who have, for more than a day, been resisting enemy bandits attacking the
capital from Shushi.”
Harutiunian’s spokesperson Vahram Poghosian said later in the afternoon that
“Shushi is totally out of Armenian control.”
“War is a hard-fought struggle where neither success nor failure is guaranteed.
To this day, unfortunately, we have to admit that the chain of failures still
haunts us, and the town of Shushi is completely out of our control,” Poghosian
wrote on Facebook in what he later confirmed to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service was
his authentic post.
Poghosian also confirmed that Azerbaijani forces were on the outskirts of
Stepanakert. “Let’s put ourselves together, for the enemy is on the outskirts of
Stepanakert and the existence of our capital is already endangered,” he said.
“If we want Shushi to be ours again, if we want Artsakh (the Armenian name for
Nagorno-Karabakh) to be preserved, today we must use all our capabilities to
organize a reliable defense in Stepanakert and at other sectors of the front.
This is the real and reliable guarantee of success,” the spokesman for
Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leader said.
And Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian wrote on his Facebook on Monday
evening that “battles for Shushi are continuing.”
Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanian also claimed in the
evening that “Karabakh Defense Army units continue to wage a fierce battle for
Shushi.”
Ankara, Moscow Mum On Reported Erdogan Proposal On Karabakh
RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan
shake hands during a news conference following their talks in Moscow, March 5,
2020
Ankara and Moscow have been tightlipped on a reported proposal by President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a Turkish-Russian platform to work towards a settlement
in Nagorno-Karabakh that would leave the United States and France – two other
current mediators along with Russia – outside the process.
Citing Turkish diplomatic sources, CNN Turk reported on Monday that during his
telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin on November 7 Erdogan
called on the Russian leader to create a joint working group to resolve the
situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Efforts in this direction may begin in the coming days, CNN Turk said, adding
that a negotiating platform outside the OSCE Minsk Group could emerge.
Putin and Erdogan had a phone call amid reports of Azerbaijani forces closing in
on a strategic Nagorno-Karabakh town of Shushi (Shusha).
Since then Azerbaijan claimed to have taken control of the hilltop town located
on a main road some 10 kilometers south of the region’s main city, Stepanakert.
Armenia, meanwhile, claimed that fierce battles for the town were still ongoing
on November 9.
The Turkish television news channel suggested that as part of Erdogan’s proposal
Azerbaijan would stop its offensive “after a victory in Shusha” and then talks
would begin, while Armenia, in turn, “would gradually leave seven districts.”
Ankara has not officially commented on the report yet.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for President Putin, also refused to comment on the
report. He told Russia’s TASS news agency on Monday that he had “nothing to add”
to what the Kremlin press service had already reported on the topics of the
November 7 telephone conversation between Putin and Erdogan.
“The Nagorno-Karabakh topic indeed was addressed,” Peskov said. “The Russian
side is still exerting all possible efforts for the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by political and diplomatic means.”
Armenia has not officially commented on the reported proposal by Erdogan either.
But talking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun), a source close to
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said: “This is a desperate attempt by Turkey to make
a false impression on its putative involvement in the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with the BBC on November 9 Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev reiterated his previous position that Baku would stop its offensive
in Nagorno-Karabakh if Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian personally
declared about Armenia’s withdrawing its troops from the region and presented a
timetable.
“But, frankly speaking, with this prime minister of Armenia I don’t think that
there is any possibility for peace,” Aliyev said.
Officials in Armenia have not yet commented on the Azerbaijani president’s
statements.
Armenian Opposition Demands Meeting With Pashinian Amid Continued Karabakh
Fighting
Lawmakers open the autumn session of the Armenian parliament, Yerevan, September
14, 2020.
The demand of the opposition parliamentarians comes amid conflicting reports
from Nagorno-Karabakh where battles have been waged for a strategic town of
Shushi (Shusha) near the region’s main city, Stepanakert.
The leaders of the two opposition factions in the Armenian parliament have
demanded an immediate meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian as fighting in
Nagorno-Karabakh continued on Monday morning, with Baku and the ethnic Armenian
authorities in Stepanakert giving different accounts of overnight battles for a
strategic town.
Prosperous Armenia’s Gagik Tsarukian and Bright Armenia’s Edmon Marukian issued
a joint statement in which they reminded the prime minister about the request
they made in late October for an urgent meeting of the Security Council with the
participation of opposition lawmakers. They said Pashinian gave no official
response to that request.
“Taking into account that fighting in Artsakh [the Armenian name for
Nagorno-Karabakh] continues, we once again appeal to the prime minister with a
demand for an immediate meeting with the parliamentary opposition factions,” the
statement reads.
Azerbaijan on Sunday claimed to have taken control of the strategic town of
Shushi (Shusha) sitting on a mountaintop some 10 kilometers south of Stepanakert
and overlooking the region’s main city.
Official Yerevan has not confirmed the capture of Shushi by Azerbaijani forces.
Defense Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanian said that battles near the town
continued into Monday morning.
Meanwhile, Nagorno-Karabakh’s de facto ethnic Armenian leader Arayik Harutiunian
said in a Facebook post on November 9 that earlier in the morning he inspected
military positions defending Stepanakert. He said during the visit he talked to
“[ethnic Armenian] Defense Army soldiers and volunteers who have, for more than
a day, been resisting enemy bandits attacking the capital from Shushi.”
In a separate report today Nagorno-Karabakh’s Defense Army released the names of
another 44 servicemen killed in action since the start of hostilities on
September 27, which raises the total death toll among ethnic Armenian forces to
1,221.
Azerbaijan does not reveal its military casualties, considering them a wartime
secret.
Political Analyst Sees Biden Win As Good News For Armenia That ‘Didn’t Come Soon
Enough’
• Harry Tamrazian
RFE/RL Armenian Service Director Harry Tamrazian interviews political analyst
Richard Giragosian, the founding director of the Regional Studies Center,
November 8, 2020
A new incoming administration in the United States may mean a positive change
for Armenia, but this change will take time while Armenians have no much time to
wait, a Yerevan-based political analyst believes.
In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun) on November
8 Richard Giragosian, the founding director of the Yerevan-based Regional
Studies Center, described the election of Joe Biden, a candidate from the
Democratic Party, as the next president of the United States as “significant
from an Armenian perspective.”
Still during the election campaign in October Biden called on President Donald
Trump to “get personally involved” to put an end to the ongoing hostilities in
Nagorno-Karabakh and promised that under his administration the United States
will lead an international diplomatic effort to end the fighting.
“This election has been a long time coming in terms of changing the
unpredictable behavior of the United States. But for Armenia this election
didn’t come soon enough. In other words president-elect Biden will come into
power at the end of January, meaning that until then there is little he can do
to help a desperate Nagorno-Karabakh struggle and in terms of changing policy,”
Giragosian said.
“Nevertheless, what’s different now... is that the context is changed. The
United States faces a Turkey that is much less a NATO member and is much more
the cause of regional instability. So I do believe the words and promises of
President-elect Biden ever more.”
The political analyst also emphasized the factor of Vice President-elect Kamala
Harris, who is from California where the Armenian Diaspora has a strong
presence, and who has “a good background on Armenian issues.”
“We should expect a significant change, but it will take time, and we don’t have
much time to wait,” he said.
While Biden’s ability to make changes is limited until January 20 when he
officially becomes president, Giragosian believes that in the meantime Armenians
could exploit “the perception even more than the reality” of his presidency.
“The perception of what the Biden administration means to Turkey and Azerbaijan
is real. And we need to actually exploit the fear in Ankara and Baku of what a
Biden administration means to Turkish aggression and empowering Azerbaijan in
attacking Artsakh [the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh]. And in this way we
have an advantage,” Giragosian said.
Along with France and Russia, the United States co-chairs the Minsk Group of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has an
international mandate to broker a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.
Still, three ceasefires brokered by Moscow, Paris and Washington in October did
not hold, as ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani forces fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh
accused each other of not respecting the agreements.
Giragosian stressed that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the only issue where
Russia works with the West and not against it.
“There is a foundation for greater cooperation to push out the interloper Turkey
in this context,” he said, echoing Yerevan’s claims that Turkey is directly
involved in the conflict by helping its regional ethnic ally Azerbaijan in its
fight against Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians, which is denied in Ankara and Baku.
“For Biden it’s an opportunity to build a new chapter of relations with Moscow
based on shared interests,” the political analyst said.
Giragosian said that the ongoing war in Nagorno-Karabakh has several lessons for
Armenia to learn. “This also causes a recalculation of our overreliance on
Russia and the diminished expectations from the West,” he concluded.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Sunday congratulated Biden on his
victory in the U.S. presidential election, expressing a hope that the new
administration in Washington “will take active steps to stop the war and bring
about a comprehensive settlement” of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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