Author: Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS

French Mayor removes Ukraine flag from city hall after phone call between Zelenskyy and Azerbaijan Prez Aliyev

Emil Lazarian
First Post, India
Oct 7 2023

The mayor of Vienne, a city in south-eastern France, has removed the Ukrainian flag from the city hall after an “unacceptable” phone conversation between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev.

Initially, the Ukrainian flag had been hoisted at the city hall to express solidarity with Kyiv for the war in Ukraine. However, Thierry Kovacs argued that it was contradictory to “claim Western values and request Western assistance” while supporting Azerbaijan and what he referred to as the “ethnic cleansing” of ethnic-Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“This doesn’t diminish Vienne’s support for the Ukrainian people, but we cannot oppose a totalitarian regime in the name of European values while simultaneously endorsing another dictatorial and brutal regime. It’s a matter of consistency, ” said the mayor in a Facebook post on Thursday.

The phone call between Presidents Zelensky and Aliyev had reportedly included expressions of gratitude from Zelenskyy for Azerbaijan’s “significant humanitarian assistance,” with both leaders reaffirming their commitment to the principles of state sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Last month, Azerbaijan regained control of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh during a brief “counterterrorism” operation. Nagorno-Karabakh, primarily populated by ethnic-Armenians, had declared independence from Baku in the early 1990s, but this declaration was not recognised by any country, including Armenia.

Despite assurances from Baku about protecting civilians, over 100,000 Armenians, approximately 90 per cent of Nagorno-Karabakh’s estimated population, fled the region after a ceasefire was reached in late September.

https://www.firstpost.com/world/french-mayor-removes-ukraine-flag-from-city-hall-after-phone-call-between-zelenskyy-and-azerbaijan-prez-aliyev-13215592.html

Syrian Armenian refugees in Australia fear for homeland

Emil Lazarian
Australian Associated Press
Oct 7 2023
  • REFUGEE
 Farid Farid

To apply as a refugee for Australia, Nairi Serobian-Mouzenian had to go back to Aleppo at the height of the civil war, dodging snipers and enduring a month of bombings to be issued a Syrian passport.

Her papers were lost on the way to Lebanon when she left Syria in 2012, and she needed proof of identity.

Three years later, she braved checkpoints and aerial bombardment to make it back into the war-scarred country that had uprooted the sizeable Armenian community she hails from.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been contested for decades with several wars fought.

Most Armenians who settled in Syria over a century ago are direct descendants of survivors of the 1915 genocide, where one million people were killed by Ottoman soldiers.

“It was hell. It was one month where I saw a lot,” the 32-year-old graphic designer told AAP.

“Life was beautiful one day and then I hear the sound of a bomb that was very loud close to our house.

“All I remember is screaming and my dad being upstairs and thinking I hope nothing happened to him.”

He escaped with a small head injury from flying shrapnel.

She described another incident when a soldier at a checkpoint in her densely packed neighbourhood told her to find another route because there were snipers on the roof.

Ms Serobian-Mouzenian made it safely to Sydney in 2016 with her family and is expecting her first-born in coming months.

But she cannot but help feel powerless with about 100,000 Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh region leaving their homes in recent days under shelling from Azerbaijan.

The year-long blockade, devolving into a war, has been internationally condemned as a modern-day genocide.

The two former Soviet countries have contested the region (known as Artsakh to Armenians) for decades, with several wars breaking out including the most recent conflict in 2020.

“I feel very sad from the depths of my heart because Syrian Armenians have gone through it (mass exodus) and now other Armenians are going through it again,” Ms Serobian-Mouzenian said.

“Our history is all a struggle from one place to another, and it’s so sad to see where we live in a century (where) we have technology and no one is doing anything.

“It’s like you’re standing in the middle of the ocean with no one helping.”

Anne Gharibian heads up settlement services at the Armenian Resource Centre in Sydney, a volunteer-powered group which provides about 3000 Iraqi and Syrian Armenians with help ranging from filling out Centrelink forms to giving advice on family reunification.

The centre is desperate for funds to keep up with demand.

It is expecting the fallout from the Nagorno-Karabakh exodus to reach Australian shores, with many Armenians having links to the territory.

About 100,000 Armenians have fled their homes under shelling from Azerbaijan.

A delegation of seven Australian parliamentarians from NSW and Victoria visited a refugee camp in Armenia for those fleeing, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong in September urged Azerbaijan to cease its military escalation.

But Ms Gharibian is calling on the Australian government to dedicate a special intake for Armenian refugees as it did for Afghan, Syrian, Iraqi and Ukrainian asylum seekers in recent years.

Sonik Oghlian was living in Sydney when the conflict in Syria took a turn for the worse in late-2011.

She sprung into action and managed to get her mother, as well as her brother, his wife and children, out to Lebanon for a few years and then later as humanitarian entrants to Australia in 2016.

“We never felt safe in Syria even though it was our physical home for decades,” she said, referring to her experience as a descendant of genocide survivors.

She said seeing images of the mass exodus of Armenians happening in real-time in recent weeks entrenched the complex feelings of being a refugee.

“It starts with the genocide and it’s a cycle. It always goes back to square one, to the feeling you don’t have a home.”

These feelings of helplessness are compounded knowing that she has a young relative serving in the Armenian army.

“It feels safe in Australia, the help we got here and there’s a future for the kids … but the worrying is always in the back of your mind,” she said.

Ethnic Cleansing Is Happening in Nagorno-Karabakh. How Can the World Respond?

Emil Lazarian
Council on Foreign Relations
Oct 4 2023

Azerbaijan’s push into the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is drawing comparisons to other episodes of ethnic cleansing. What can be done under international law?

Article by David J. Scheffer

The ethnic Armenian population of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in Azerbaijan, a largely Christian community in a predominantly Muslim nation, is experiencing ethnic cleansing at warp speed. Over the last week, almost all of the estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh have fled west to Armenia. This exodus follows clashes with the Azerbaijan army that have reportedly killed upwards of four hundred people, including some civilians. The renewed conflict demonstrates the failure of years of diplomatic efforts to prevent the persecution of ethnic Armenians, and remaining options to address the situation with the tools of international law are limited.

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The Armenian government has accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. The term “ethnic cleansing” has garnered varied definitions over the years, but the United Nations describes it as “a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.” The use of starvation tactics against ethnic Armenians during the monthslong closure of the so-called Lachin Corridor between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, combined with Azerbaijani army intimidation, resulted in an exodus of Armenians that has triggered the charge of ethnic cleansing.  

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Armenia

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While ethnic cleansing is not defined as a matter of criminal law, its attributes appear in the crime against humanity of persecution and as predicates for acts of genocide. International criminal tribunals prosecute those atrocity crimes, and in many such cases, claims of ethnic cleansing have been front and center. The most prominent example of ethnic cleansing in the last few decades was the forcible removal of the Muslim Bosniak population of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Bosnian Serb (Orthodox Christian) and Bosnian Croat (Roman Catholic) forces in the early 1990s. 

An explicit invocation of ethnic cleansing also can be found in the Responsibility to Protect principle (R2P) adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly in 2005. R2P states that nations have the responsibility to protect their own populations from “genocide, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes.” But if a government fails to do so, R2P proclaims, then the UN Security Council can act with enforcement power under the UN Charter to prevent and confront such assaults on a civilian population. The Security Council has not acted under R2P in the current Nagorno-Karabakh crisis because Russia, as one of the five veto-wielding Permanent Members of the Council, almost certainly would block any such action while it remains focused on waging a war of aggression against Ukraine.

Deterrence, including measures that could discourage ethnic cleansing, reached its expiration date in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is now too late for international monitors to bear witness to the fate of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. The UN observers that have arrived in the enclave have confirmed that nearly all ethnic Armenians have already fled to Armenia. 

The history of monitoring in the region is mixed. In the wake of the 2020 resurgence of conflict over the enclave, Russia deployed peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh, an echo of the small contingent of monitors sent by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) years earlier. The Russian force, which normally would act as a de facto monitoring mission, has proven itself to be remarkably ineffective. It refused to intervene to open the Lachin Corridor, and it has now failed to deter a renewed assault on the enclave. 

However, one other prospect could be the deployment of OSCE or UN monitors under a fresh mandate to patrol the Armenia-Azerbaijan border in hopes of deterring cross-border movements by either country’s armed forces. This approach would have to include a negotiated withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from the Armenian territory that they occupied in 2021 and 2022 and a return to internationally recognized borders. If that idea proves unworkable, the two countries could agree to take the dispute to the International Court of Justice for adjudication.

Azerbaijan claims that it will treat the remaining Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh just like any other minority population. That promise likely will not instill much confidence among the small number of Armenians who now face the prospect of Baku dominating their governance in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Azerbaijan is party to multiple multilateral treaties that include obligations that either explicitly protect or reflect the rights of minority populations. OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov could intensify his monitoring of Azerbaijan’s compliance with and any violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Aggrieved ethnic Armenians can lodge claims against Azerbaijan in the European Court of Human Rights, the legal arm of the Council of Europe, a human rights body to which Armenia and Azerbaijan both belong.

To demonstrate its respect for R2P, Azerbaijan should prevent ethnic cleansing, including its incitement, against ethnic Armenians. While that could seem inconceivable given what has occurred in Nagorno-Karabakh, the United Nations and influential actors such as the United States, Turkey, and the European Union should be pressing the point in all diplomatic exchanges with Baku.

There is long-standing animosity between the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s majority-Muslim population, whose resentment has been stoked by the brutal war and subsequent Armenian occupation of the enclave and surrounding Azerbaijani districts in the early 1990s. The resulting armed conflicts of recent years and the rout that has driven most ethnic Armenians onto Armenian territory demand some sort of dialogue. Otherwise, resentments and insecurities will govern the future relationship between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

As a start, the Council of Europe should explore a truth and reconciliation commission that brings both government officials and average citizens together to address grievances and hopes. There likely is no turning back on the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh as a territory now—it will be absorbed into the nation-state of Azerbaijan. But the ethnic Armenians who have called Nagorno-Karabakh home will still seek an end to persecution and hatred. Respect and dignity are the pillars of any truth and reconciliation commission. Armenia and Azerbaijan should work to restore both to their peoples, starting with an initiative that seeks the truth and creates momentum for reconciling divisive prejudices. Nor need there be a trade-off between justice and transparency, as both could be uniquely balanced in the outcome, as proved to be the case in Sierra Leone after its civil war.

One approach to justice would be to turn to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which can investigate and prosecute charges such as ethnic cleansing. On October 3, the Armenian Parliament ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC and two months after its formal deposit of that instrument of ratification—probably early December 2023—will become a state party. The news was not welcomed by Armenia’s longtime (now fading) ally Russia, whose leader, President Vladimir Putin, has been charged by the ICC with war crimes in Ukraine and who now could be arrested if he were to visit Armenia. Azerbaijan remains a non-party state of the court.

Armenia’s embrace of the ICC can be a powerful weapon of lawfare. Indeed, even before it formally becomes the 124th member of the ICC, Armenia could file immediately a special “Article 12(3)” declaration granting jurisdiction to the Court over the forcible deportation of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh onto Armenian territory. This option would be similar to the ICC’s current jurisdiction for atrocity crimes committed on Ukrainian territory (a non-party State).  Ukraine had filed two such declarations, triggering an official ICC investigation into the Ukraine situation (and of Russian officials). The investigation commenced following referrals by scores of ICC countries; a similar course of events could be a plausible prospect for Armenia’s injury in the Nagorno-Karabakh situation. Once Armenia’s status at the ICC is settled, Azerbaijan political and military leaders could be drawn into the jurisdiction of the ICC because of the character of the alleged crime, just as the forcible deportation (ethnic cleansing) of the Rohingya minority onto the territory of ICC member Bangladesh by military forces of Myanmar (a non-ICC country) in 2017 exposed Myanmar officials to ICC investigation. 

Baku might want to capitalize on the depopulating of Nagorno-Karabakh with a swift military movement across Armenian territory to control access to Nakhchivan, an exclave region of Azerbaijan bordering Iran. But now that Armenia is poised to join the ICC, Azerbaijan’s political and military leaders would likely risk investigation by the ICC prosecutor of the crime of aggression. That may explain the Armenian Parliament’s rapid move to ratify the Rome Statute—to address not only the fate of ethnic Armenians but to deter any Azerbaijani aggression across its territory.

Tensions over Armenian crisis in Azerbaijan boil over in reportedly violent protest at USC

Emil Lazarian
Los Angeles Times
Oct 5 2023
BY CHRISTIAN MARTINEZSTAFF WRITER 

OCT. 5, 2023 12:17 PM PT

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The fall of Nagorno-Karabakh, the separatist region of Azerbaijan populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, has spurred condemnation and anger in Southern California, home to a large population of Armenian Americans.

After the long-running conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated in recent years, igniting further protests, Azerbaijan took back the enclave in a lightning blitz last month — leading tensions in L.A. to boil over into violence at one of the latest demonstrations.

On Friday, Armenian protesters at USC allegedly attacked Turkish diplomats, including Turkish Ambassador to the U.S. Hasan Murat Mercan, who had spoken at an event sponsored by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, according to video posted by a Turkish reporter.

Turkey has been a vocal supporter of Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, where it has bolstered the nation’s military.

WORLD & NATION

Oct. 5, 2023

Video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, purportedly shows Armenian protesters assaulting members of the Turkish Embassy, according to Burak Dogan, a reporter for a conservative Turkish outlet with close ties to the administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. One man is seen throwing liquid at a diplomat while another man pushes a person and kicks a rolling backpack.

Los Angeles police said major crimes detectives were investigating two reports of battery with possible hate crime enhancements and a report of criminal threats in connection with the incident. No arrests have been made.

USC officials declined to comment and referred all questions to the LAPD.

The Turkish Embassy blamed the clash on “radical Armenian groups,” with protests that included “verbal and physical assaults against our delegation,” it said in a statement on X.

“All legal avenues will be pursued against the perpetrators of physical violence directed at our delegation,” the embassy said.

WORLD & NATION

Sept. 26, 2023

Turkish graduate students at USC said the incident “deeply affected our sense of security and belonging.”

“The growing negative attitude towards those of Turkish origin is a cause for serious concern,” the Turkish Graduate Students Assn. at USC wrote in an Instagram post. “We fervently appeal to Turkish institutions and officials to address this issue with the gravity it demands.”

The Armenian Students Assn. of USC distanced itself from the reportedly violent protesters and condemned their actions, saying in a statement that students “exercised exclusively peaceful tactics of civil disobedience and did not partake in non-peaceful acts.”

The association said it had voiced concerns to USC about the event, a conference on the role of public diplomacy in Turkish foreign policy.

“Today and this week, USC subjected its Armenian student population to unimaginable cruelty,” the association said. “In our period of mourning, USC Annenberg not only refused to cancel an event celebrating Turkish foreign policy but also responded to student efforts … with excessive use of force.”

WORLD & NATION

Sept. 28, 2023

Video posted on Instagram by the Armenian Youth Federation — Western United States showed pro-Armenian protesters fighting with campus police officers outside Wallis Annenberg Hall.

In late September, Azerbaijan waged a military campaign in Nagorno-Karabakh, an area known to Armenians as the Republic of Artsakh.

Separatists were faced with a much larger military force and a continuing blockade that starved them of supplies, the Associated Press reported. They quickly capitulated, with leaders saying they would dissolve their internationally unrecognized government by year’s end.

Tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians, fearing ethnic cleansing, have fled Nagorno-Karabakh.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-05/turkish-diplomats-reportedly-attacked-at-usc-by-armenian-protesters

EU Parliament accuses Baku of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Nagorno-Karabakh

Emil Lazarian
euronews
Oct 5 2023
By Kristina Harazim with AFP, AP

The European Parliament approved a resolution saying it ''considers that the current situation amounts to ethnic cleansing and strongly condemns threats and violence committed by Azerbaijani troops.''

EU legislators on Thursday accused Azerbaijan of carrying out "ethnic cleansing" against the Armenian residents of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and urged EU member states to impose sanctions on Baku.

Azerbaijan has rejected the claim and said it wants Armenians to stay.

Baku pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians, however, most of the population fled after Azerbaijan took back the region in a lightning offensive last month.

The European Parliament approved a resolution saying it ''considers that the current situation amounts to ethnic cleansing and strongly condemns threats and violence committed by Azerbaijani troops.''

EU legislators on Thursday accused Azerbaijan of carrying out "ethnic cleansing" against the Armenian residents of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and urged EU member states to impose sanctions on Baku.

Azerbaijan has rejected the claim and said it wants Armenians to stay.

Baku pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians, however, most of the population fled after Azerbaijan took back the region in a lightning offensive last month.

https://www.euronews.com/2023/10/05/eu-parliament-accuses-baku-of-ethnic-cleansing-in-nagorno-karabakh

RFE/RL Armenian Service – 10/06/2023

Emil Lazarian 
                                        Friday, October 6, 2023


EU Official Visits Armenia, Discusses Aid To Karabakh Refugees

        • Anush Mkrtchian

Armenia - EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic talks to refugees 
from Nagorno-Karabakh, October 6, 2023.


A senior European Union official visited Armenia on Friday to discuss details of 
the EU’s humanitarian assistance to the more than 100,000 residents of 
Nagorno-Karabakh who have fled to the country since last month’s Azerbaijani 
military offensive.

“I came to Armenia to show the full solidarity of the European Union to Armenia, 
the Armenian people and, in particular, the people displaced from Karabakh,” EU 
Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said after meeting with 
Armenian officials and some refugees. He said they “can count on the EU’s full 
support in this difficult situation.”

“We very quickly mobilized more than 5 million euros in humanitarian aid, 
doubled it a few days later, and as of today have provided more than 10 million 
euros ($11 million) in humanitarian aid … In addition, we have mobilized the 
European Union's stock of humanitarian aid supplies, which will be sent to 
Armenia in the next few hours,” Lenarcic told a joint news conference with 
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatrian.

On top of that, he said, the refugees will receive separate aid from 13 EU 
member states, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

ARMENIA - Five Armenian families, who fled Nagorno-Karabakh following the Azeri 
offensive, are seen settled in a house given to them by a neighbor in Goris 
until they find a new home, October 4, 2023

The head of the EU’s executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, discussed this 
assistance with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Thursday during a meeting held 
on the sidelines of an EU summit in the Spanish city of Granada. The Commission 
confirmed after the talks that it will also allocate 15 million euros to help 
the Armenian government buy food and fuel and address other “socio-economic 
needs.”

“The EU stands with Armenia,” tweeted von der Leyen. “We condemn Azerbaijan’s 
military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

It is not clear whether some of the EU aid will be used for providing the 
refugees with adequate housing, their most urgent need. The Armenian government 
claims to have accommodated half of them in hotels, disused public buildings and 
empty village houses. It says the others have told government officials that 
they will stay with their relatives or have other places of residence in Armenia.

Armenia - Elmira Nersisian, a refugee from Nagorno Karabakh, visits an aid 
center in Parakar, October 6, 2023

However, there have been multiple reports of refugees remaining homeless days 
after their evacuation from Karabakh. RFE/RL’s Armenian Service spoke to several 
such persons outside a government aid center in Parakar, a village just outside 
Yerevan. They as well as other refugees went there to inquire about a one-off 
cash payment of 100,000 drams ($245) promised by the government to every 
displaced Karabakh Armenian.

“We are living in a church courtyard, we have no relatives here,” said Elmira 
Nersisian, a 74-year-old woman from Stepanakert who fled to Armenia with her 
disabled daughter. “We didn’t know what to do, who to apply to.”

“If they give us this [financial] aid, we will get by until I find a job,” she 
said, adding that government officials have pledged to provide them with 
temporary housing.

The government has also pledged to provide every refugee renting an apartment or 
house up to 50,000 drams per month for at least six months. The money can only 
be spent on housing rent and utility fees.




Russia Reaffirms Plans For Consulate In Key Armenian Region


Armenian - Russian border guards stationed in Syunik province are inspected by 
Russian Ambassador Sergei Kopyrkin, May 24, 2022.


Amid the increasingly uncertain future of Russian-Armenian relations, Russia has 
reaffirmed plans to open a consulate in Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province 
bordering Iran and Azerbaijan.

The Russian Foreign Ministry first announced those plans in late May, saying 
that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian discussed and welcomed them during talks 
with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A delegation of ministry officials 
visited Syunik’s capital for that purpose in June.

The Russian Embassy in Yerevan reported on Friday that another “advance team” of 
Russian diplomats visited Syunik and met with the mayor of another provincial 
town, Meghri, on Thursday. It said they discussed “prospects for the quick 
opening” of the consulate.

The Russian mission in Kapan “will contribute to the strengthening of 
Russian-Armenian relations and the stabilization of the situation in the 
region,” the embassy added in a statement. It will provide consular services to 
about a thousand Russian nationals currently based in Syunik.

The bulk of them are soldiers and border guards who were deployed by Moscow 
during and after the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The deployment was aimed at 
helping the Armenian military defend the strategic region against possible 
Azerbaijani attacks.

Syunik is Armenia’s sole region bordering Iran. Azerbaijani leaders have been 
demanding that Yerevan open a special corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its 
Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik. The Armenian side says it can only agree to 
conventional transport links between the two states.

Iran, which opened a consulate in Kapan a year ago, is also strongly opposed to 
an extraterritorial corridor for Nakhichevan. It has repeatedly warned Baku 
against attempting to strip the Islamic Republic of the common border and 
transport links with Armenia.

While voicing support for Armenian sovereignty over any road or railway link 
passing through Syunik, Russia has stopped short publicly issuing similar 
warnings to Azerbaijan. Its relationship with Armenia has steadily deteriorated 
since 2020 due to what Pashinian’s government sees as a lack of Russian support 
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The rift between the two longtime allies deepened further last month after 
Moscow decried “a series of unfriendly steps” taken by Yerevan. Those include 
Pashinian’s declaration that Armenia’s heavy reliance on Russia for defense and 
security has proved a “strategic mistake.” The statement raised more questions 
about the South Caucasus country’s continued membership in Russian-led blocs.




Russia Signals Peacekeepers’ Withdrawal From Karabakh

        • Nane Sahakian

A view through a car window shows a board displaying a Russian state flag and an 
image of President Vladimir Putin in Stepanakert after exodus of ethnic 
Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, October 2, 2023.


Russia gave on Friday more indications that it will withdraw its peacekeeping 
forces from Nagorno-Karabakh following the Azerbaijani takeover of the territory 
and the mass exodus of its ethnic Armenian population.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday night that the peacekeepers have 
dismantled most of their observation posts along the Karabakh “line of contact” 
that existed until Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive.

Citing an unnamed diplomatic source, the official TASS news agency reported the 
following morning that a Russian military delegation will visit Yerevan later on 
Friday to discuss with Armenian officials time frames for the Russian withdrawal 
from Karabakh.

The spokesman for Armenia’s Defense Ministry, Aram Torosian, said, however, that 
he has “no information” about the visit. No Russian-Armenian talks on the issue 
have been scheduled so far, he said.

Russia deployed the 2,000-strong peacekeeping contingent to Karabakh in line 
with a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the 2020 
Armenian-Azerbaijani war. The Russian troops were due to stay there at least 
until November 2025.

A truck carrying ethnic Armenians fleeing Karabakh drives past a Russian armored 
vehicle in the Lachin corridor, September 26, 2023.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, indicated earlier 
this week that Moscow has no plans to pull them out of the region soon but will 
discuss the matter with Baku. Konstantin Zatulin, a pro-Armenian Russian 
lawmaker, pointed out, meanwhile, that the Russian peacekeepers “have nobody to 
protect anymore” because Karabakh’s practically entire population has fled to 
Armenia. Zatulin said the exodus, accompanied by the restoration of Azerbaijani 
control over Karabakh, is a “blow to Russia’s positions in the region.”

The Karabakh Armenians regarded the Russian military presence as their main 
security guarantee and expected the peacekeepers to defend their homeland in 
case of a large-scale Azerbaijani attack. However, Russian officials ruled out 
such intervention hours after the Azerbaijani army launched the offensive on 
September 19.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Thursday that the peacekeepers could 
not have thwarted the assault because Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
downgraded their mandate with his decision to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty 
over Karabakh. Putin acknowledged that there are virtually no Armenians left in 
Karabakh.




EU Parliament Calls For Sanctions Against Azerbaijan


Nagorno-Karabakh - A satellite image shows empty streets of the city of 
Stepanakert, September 29, 2023.


The European Parliament has strongly condemned Azerbaijan’s military offensive 
in Nagorno-Karabakh, accused Baku of committing “ethnic cleaning” against the 
region’s Armenian population and called on the European Union to impose 
sanctions on Azerbaijani leaders.

In a non-binding resolution overwhelmingly passed late on Thursday, it also 
reiterated its earlier demands for the “withdrawal of Azerbaijan’s troops from 
the entirety of the sovereign territory of Armenia.”

The resolution says that the EU’s legislative body “condemns in the strongest 
terms the pre-planned and unjustified military attack by Azerbaijan against the 
Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.” The September 19-20 offensive, which paved the 
way for the restoration of Azerbaijani control over the region, represents a 
“gross violation of international law,” it says.

The ensuing mass exodus of Karabakh Armenians to Armenia “amounts to ethnic 
cleansing,” added the European Parliament. It went on to urge the EU’s executive 
bodies and member states to “adopt targeted sanctions against the individuals in 
the Azerbaijani Government responsible for multiple ceasefire violations and 
violations of human rights in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The sanctions require the unanimous support of all 27 member states. None of 
them -- including France, the main EU backer of Armenia -- has backed the idea 
so far. French President Emmanuel Macron said later on Thursday that punitive 
measures against Baku would be counterproductive at this point.

EU leaders also resisted calls to sanction Azerbaijan during its nine-month 
blockade of the Lachin corridor that preceded the offensive in Karabakh. 
Analysts linked their stance to a 2022 agreement to significantly increase the 
EU’s import of Azerbaijani natural gas. The head of the European Commission, 
Ursula von der Leyen, described Azerbaijan as a “key partner in our efforts to 
move away from Russian fossil fuels” when she signed the deal in Baku.

The European Parliament resolution “regrets” von der Leyen’s statement. It says 
that the EU must suspend oil and gas imports from Azerbaijan “in the event of 
military aggression against Armenian territorial integrity or significant hybrid 
attacks against Armenia’s constitutional order and democratic institutions.”



Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Asbarez: Yerevan Condemns Azerbaijan’s Arrest of Artsakh Leaders

Emil Lazarian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 October 4, 2023

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

Artsakh leaders attend Mass before the Lachin Corridor blockade in December


Armenia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the arrest of prominent Artsakh leaders by Azerbaijan, pledging, in a statement, that Armenia will take all steps to protect their rights.

This comes as Azerbaijani sources on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of Artsakh’s former presidents, Arayik Harutyunyan, Bako Sahakian and Arkady Ghukasian, as well as that of parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanyan. Earlier this week it was reported that former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, the former foreign minister Davit Babayan and two high-ranking Artsakh military commanders were also arrested.

“Despite statements made by high-level Azerbaijani government officials on willingness for dialogue with Nagorno-Karabakh representatives about respecting and protecting the rights of Armenians and not obstructing their return to Nagorno-Karabakh and on the establishment of peace in the region, the Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies continue to carry out arbitrary arrests,” Armenia’s foreign ministry said.

The statement also pointed out that Armenia, on several occasions, has called for the need to guarantee such actions, “including on September 23 from the podium of the UN General Assembly.”

“On September 28, the Republic of Armenia appealed to the UN International Court of Justice, within the framework of the Armenia vs. Azerbaijan case examined as part of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, requesting provisional measures demanding Azerbaijan to refrain from taking punitive actions against current or former Nagorno-Karabakh leaders or military personnel,” explained the foreign ministry.

“The Republic of Armenia will take all possible steps to protect the rights of the unlawfully arrested Nagorno-Karabakh representatives in international bodies, including judicial bodies,” the statement said.

“We also call upon international partners to follow up their calls made thus far to Azerbaijan regarding the protection of the rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, and address the issue both in bilateral relations with Azerbaijan and within various international bodies,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.

AW: “Wanton abandon was the cause of this”

Emil Lazarian
October 4, 2023 Aramazt Kalayjian Opinion 0

In the late 2000s, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vartan Oskanian held a symposium at Columbia University. The talk, organized by some local Armenian organizations, centered around Armenia, Artsakh and the struggle to carve a path for international recognition of Artsakh. At the time, Armenia (under then-President Robert Kocharian) had recently received a $5 billion IMF loan and was in the process of post-war and post-earthquake development, making some infrastructural strides with paved roads and the import of Italian construction companies.

While listening to Mr. Oskanian speak, I couldn’t help but think, “Isn’t Azerbaijan capitalizing on their Caspian oil fields while Armenia is entering into debt?”

Billions of dollars were spent by the Azerbaijani government to achieve its military objectives in Artsakh – billions of dollars usurped from their people, left impoverished in villages while their dictator and wife as vice-dictator siphoned money for their Perez International real estate empire. Caspian crude oil funneled by British Petroleum, Chevron and other international partners found its way worldwide and amassed wealth in the oligarchic hands of the Aliyev clan.

Some of that money went to Azerbaijan’s military budget to purchase Israeli and Turkish drones, to buy desperate fighters from Syria and to pay for propaganda. War isn’t simply the will to go and fight in a coordinated, well-trained and organized fashion. It’s orchestrated on multiple fronts. War is waged psychologically to bring morale down, financially to break any sense of prosperity, and through propaganda and “active measures” to manipulate the conventional thought of both the Azeri and Armenian people. It’s not simply a hard-won fight militarily in the air and on land anymore.

The billions of Azeri petrodollars collected over three decades since the military victories of the Armenian Armed Forces were exponential compared to what Armenia’s multiple regimes had spent – three to four times more. Armenia could fight valiantly all it wants. The numbers don’t add up, despite our scrappy will to survive. It’s a great sentiment, unfounded in possibility, lest we innovated for thirty years in our approach.

We needed to invest in developing inexpensive, useful and materially viable products like lenses, lasers, computer chip printing and engineering. We needed a plan for progress and prosperity in order to manifest our desired result of an Armenia and Artsakh union. What did we do?

First, it was casinos for our locals and for the Iranian tourists. When that got out of hand, investments went into exorbitant real estate projects and luxury cars. Then, when the casinos became so unsightly, lining the streets from the airport to the city center, we had a brief awakening. Having laws mattered. But, it was already too late.

Through the decades, political power shifted and abated Armenia’s economic possibilities. A plethora of dumbfounding political events took place in Armenia: the will of the people ignored in blatantly misrepresented elections; promises of EU reform reversed for EEU reform; the change of the constitution to extend the leadership terms (presidential to parliamentary rule); and most recently, unrealistic goals and jingoistic populist rhetoric used to gain public favor by an already disenfranchised society. Constant turmoil produced consistently high risk.

At the end of Mr. Oskanian’s talk, there was a brief Q & A. I asked him about Artsakh’s future under the reality of Azeri oil profits. He agreed that the money is a reality and said that “everything will be alright.”

Shushi’s many foundations, left bare after the First Artsakh War, now in the hands of the Azeri government after the Second Artsakh War (Photo: Aramazt Kalayjian)

Everything will be alright…and yet here we are—120,000 Artsakh citizens with a desire to live in a free and independent land that has birthed centuries-old monasteries as proof of our existence and faith, families who want to work, for their children to attend school and have endless possibilities, have been forced into unthinkable submission—starved, humiliated, bombed, raped and told “everything will be alright.”

As for Armenians in the old and new diaspora worldwide, this has to be the defining apex that transforms the internal dialogue we have about our homeland. Our homeland needs all of us, with or without successful careers, with or without huge amounts of foreign debt, with or without a sense of accomplishment in our hometown communities. We must have the conversation, introduce the idea of moving, investing or visiting more often and bringing creative and intelligent investments to Armenia. Wanton abandon was the cause of this. Diligent vigilance will be our only path forward.

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Aramazt Kalayjian is a creative professional with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary story-telling and visual communication. His current project is TEZETA, a film about the Armenians of Ethiopia.


Greater Boston “beats with one Armenian heart” for Artsakh

Emil Lazarian
October 4, 2023 Guest Contributor Community News, Diaspora 0

The Armenian community of Greater Boston has come together following the tragic fall of Artsakh due to Azeri aggression. Not facing any opposition from the world, Azerbaijan’s dictator amassed a large force on the borders of Artsakh and launched an invasion after subjecting its Armenian population to an almost 10-month long blockade, preventing food, medicine, and other necessities from entering the country. The invasion has resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, from which over 100,000 inhabitants have already left their homes, fearing rape, murder, and pillage at the hands of the Azeri invaders.

Clergy lead the community in a prayer for Artsakh, Sept. 22, 2023 (Photo: Ani Zargarian)

In its distress, the Armenian community of Boston came together for a prayer service and community gathering on Friday, September 22. The prayer service was conducted at St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church with clergy from Armenian churches in the Greater Boston area. The Very Reverend Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, presided and delivered the homily. Very Rev. Fr. Ardag Arabian (Holy Trinity Church in Worcester), Very Rev. Fr. Ghazare Bedrosian (Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church in Belmont), Archpriest Fr. Antranig Baljian (St. Stephen’s Church in Watertown), Rev. Fr. Arakel Aljalian (St. James Church in Watertown), Rev. Fr. Vazken Kouzouian (Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge), Rev. Fr. Stephan Baljian (St. Gregory Church in N. Andover), Rev. Fr. Khachatur Kesablyan (Sts. Vartanants Church in Chelmsford), Rev. Fr. Vart Gyozalyan (Armenian Church at Hye Point), Rev. Fr. Mikael Der Kosrofian (Soorp Asdvadzadzin Church of Whitinsville), Rev. Fr. Tadeos Barseghian (Church of Our Savior, Worcester), Rev. Dr. Avedis Boynerian (Armenian Church of the Martyrs in Worcester) and Deacon Asatur Baljyan (Choir Director at St. James Church in Watertown) participated in the community prayer service.

Armenian Relief Society Central Executive Board chair Dr. Nyree Derderian (Photo: Ani Zargarian)

Following the service, more than 500 community members came together at the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center. Organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation of Boston, the event featured remarks by Dr. Nyree Derderian, the chairperson of the Armenian Relief Society Central Executive Board, who addressed the humanitarian crisis; Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, who highlighted advocacy avenues moving forward; Dr. Greg Demirchyan from the Armenian Bar Association, who discussed legal considerations for the status of the Armenians of Artsakh; and Weekly columnist Yeghia Tashjian, a regional analyst, who commented on the political situation on the ground and the threats facing Armenia. State Representative Steven Owens of Watertown joined the event in solidarity with the Armenian-American community. 

Meghri DerVartanian (Photo: Sona Gevorkian)

On Saturday, September 30, the Pan Armenian Council of New England, working with local Armenian churches and organizations, held a rally at the Armenian Heritage Park on the Green. The event, which was hosted by Meghri Dervartanian and opened with an ecumenical prayer, raised awareness of the ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Artsakh. “We are a force to drive positive change in our community,” Dervartanian said. “Let us not forget that we always survive…this is not the end! It will never be the end for the Armenian people. It will never be the end for Artsakh.”

Dr. Ara Nazarian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation of Boston (Photo: Sona Gevorkian

This sentiment was reinforced by Dr. Ara Nazarian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation of Boston. “Artsakh will always be Armenian, she will rejoin our nation again, and our brothers and sisters will return to their homeland,” he said. 

Anthony Barsamian from the Armenian Assembly of America stated that the President of Azerbaijan must be prosecuted for war crimes. “We have got to be strong now because Armenia is at stake,” he said.

Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, stressed the need for the violence and displacement to end in Artsakh and for peace to prevail for its people.

Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian (Photo: Sona Gevorkian)

Stating that this is the greatest threat to our community since the Genocide, Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian urged, “Now is the time to move forward with one focus to beat with one Armenian heart.”

Ara Balikian from the Armenian General Benevolent Union of New England focused on the need to help the people of Artsakh and “alleviate their suffering” through all means available to the community.

Dr. Shant Parseghian from the Pan Armenian Council of New England joined the voices of each speaker in highlighting the needs of the Armenians of Artsakh. All addressed the humanitarian, advocacy and historical contexts of this monumental loss for the Armenian nation and the need for our government to stand on the right side of history and provide much-needed aid to the people of Artsakh, who have lost everything in a matter of a week.

“Being Armenian…means standing arm-in-arm in a city halfway across the world from our ancestral land and finding hope in our unity,” Ani Belorian of the Pan Armenian Council of New England concluded.

The Greater Boston community came together in support of Artsakh at the Armenian Heritage Park on The Greenway, Boston, Sept. 30, 2023 (Photo: Sona Gevorkian)

Children of families forcibly displaced from Nagorno Karabakh to participate in a program in Slovenia

Emil Lazarian

 18:17, 5 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. On October 5, Armenian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan received Tomaz Lovrecic, director of the Slovenian organization “Enhancing Human Security” (ITF).The organization has been hosting children from Nagorno-Karabakh as well as border communities of the Republic of Armenia for the second year.  

According to the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs press release,within the framework of the program children had the opportunity to participate in various educational and training projects and events at the Youth health and summer resort of Slovenia Red Cross.

Minister Mkrtchyan expressed gratitude to Mr. Lovrencic for hosting the children, noting that the provision of socio-psychological rehabilitation services had a positive effect on the children. At the same time, the minister proposed to include in the new phase of the project the children of the families forcibly displaced from NK and affected by the explosion in NK, the press releasereads. 

Tomaz Lovrencic presented the projects currently being implemented by their organization and in that context attached high importance to the activities aimed at the full inclusion of children of vulnerable groups.