Author: Emma Nadirian

Artsakh’s Shushi suffered countless damages from Azerbaijani rocket-artillery strikes

Emma Nadirian

 

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 13:50, 7 November, 2020

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh’s cultural city Shushi has suffered major and countless damages and destructions from the Turkey-backed Azerbaijani aggression, Officer at the information and PR department of the State Service for Emergency Situations of Artsakh Hunan Tadevosyan told Armenpress.

“As the city is still under fire at this moment, reporters are unable to visit Shushi and to get first-hand information what is happening there and whether the cultural centers, museums and spiritual structures have been targeted. The fire is not stopping, the city has been under intense fire yesterday during the whole day. A fire broke out. Two residential houses have been burnt, but it was possible to neutralize it on time in case when the air raid sirens were not deactivated and the city was under constant shelling. No casualties have been reported in Shushi yesterday and today”, he said.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Threat facing French-Armenians is a threat for France – Ambassador

Emma Nadirian

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 22:43, 5 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of France to Armenia Jonathan Lacote posted an article on his Twitter page about the enhanced patrol service at the Armenian college at Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes et du Rhône, noting that the threat facing the French-Armenians is a threat for entire France.

''Sad image, but this is a strong symbol of protection that our nation provides to all its citizens. The threat facing the French-Armenians is a threat for entire France'', ARMENPRESS reports Lacote wrote.

The authorities of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes et du Rhône decided to carry out enhanced patrol at the Armenian schools and cultural centers following the incidents of Armenians being persecuted by Turks in France.




Armenian FM expresses full solidarity to people of Austria

Emma Nadirian

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 18:48, 3 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan has expressed his full solidarity to the people of Austria over the recent terror attack in Vienna.

“Barbarity and terrorism smearing around. Now in Vienna. Very angry about this heinous attack. In full solidarity with Austria’n friends. Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh are fighting those terrorists sponsored by Turkey and their client Azerbaijan”, the FM said on Twitter.

In Vienna on Monday night, shooting occurred in six locations, including a site near a synagogue. Three people were killed, 15 were wounded, including one police officer. One of the shooters was shot and killed by police. As the police reported, the shooting was initiated by several well-armed men, reports TASS. Austria’s Federal Minister of the Interior Karl Nehammer and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz viewed the attack as a terrorist act. Residents were recommended to avoid public places. A large-scale special operation on search and apprehension of perpetrators is underway in the city.

Editing by Aneta Harutyunyan

Nagorno-Karabakh: UK to provide food and medicine to people affected by the conflict

Emma Nadirian
The Government of the UK
Oct 31 2020
News story

UK announces £1million funding to provide relief to those affected by Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Published
From:
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and The Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP

Thousands of people affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will receive urgent medical supplies, food and safer shelters from a new UK aid package, announced today by the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

The conflict escalated on 27 September. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, with growing numbers of civilian casualties and damage to homes and vital infrastructure.

Now much-needed medical supplies, including dressing kits and bandages, will be provided for civilians caught up in the crisis through a new £1 million UK aid package, in response to an appeal by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). People injured in the fighting, including children caught in the crossfire, will receive life-saving treatment at health facilities or from emergency responders supported by the ICRC.

Many of those affected have limited access to food and other essentials, and UK support will provide blankets, food parcels and basic hygiene items to vulnerable communities near to the fighting.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

Today’s UK aid package will help deliver vital food, medicine and urgent healthcare to those affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We continue to urge both sides to engage with the OSCE Minsk group and seek a peaceful, negotiated, political solution which the people of the region so desperately need.

ICRC Regional Director for EURASIA, Martin Schuepp said:

The ICRC is most grateful to the UK for its contribution to the ICRC’s response in the region. The high-quality funding the ICRC receives from its donors, including the UK, enables the ICRC to deliver neutral, impartial and independent action to those affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence.

UK support will also help to improve the quality of often overcrowded shelters by installing or improving water tanks and toilets. It will also ensure the shelters are suitably equipped to keep warm as the region’s bitter winter approaches.

The UK, along with Canada, has repeatedly called for both sides to work towards a peaceful, political resolution to the conflict through the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk process and has expressed its full support for the work of the Minsk Group.

  • The new funding is in addition to our core funding to ICRC. In recent years, the UK has been the second largest donor globally to the ICRC, helping them to respond quickly to situations of armed conflict.

  • The ICRC is an independent, neutral organisation ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence.

Contact the FCDO Communication Team via email (monitored 24 hours a day) in the first instance, and we will respond as soon as possible.

Existence of Artsakh’s population not possible under Azerbaijani jurisdiction– MFA spokesperson

Emma Nadirian

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 22:54,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of Armenia reaffirms the position that the existence of the population of Artsakh is not possible under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan, ARMENPRESS reports Anna Naghdalyan, spokesperson of the Foreign Minister of Armenia, said in a press conference.

‘’The announcements of the Azerbaijani president and the actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces that we witness show that the goal of Azerbaijan is to evict Armenians from Artsakh, exterminate the indigenous people of Artsakh and Azerbaijan wants Artsakh without its indigenous people. The existence of the population of Artsakh is not possible under the Azerbaijani jurisdiction’’, she said, adding that since the 1st day of the war Azerbaijan committed war crimes against the people of Artsakh, including the use of cluster munition against civilians.

Azerbaijani bombing destroys buildings in Stepanakert, damages gas pipeline of a district

Emma Nadirian

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 22:46,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, ARMENPRESS. As a result of the bombing of Artsakh capital Stepanakert by the Azerbaijani armed forces, a car burned down in the city, public buildings were destroyed, and the gas pipeline of the district was damaged, ARMENPRESS reports the Armenian United Information Center informed.

''The Azerbaijani armed forces again targeted Artsakh's capital Stepanakert, violating the norms of the international humanitarian law. As a result of the bombing a car has burned down, public buildings, shops have been destroyed. The pipline supplying gas to the district has been damaged. There are no casualties'', reads the statement.

Armenia, Azerbaijan announce humanitarian truce

Emma Nadirian
Yahoo! news
Oct 18 2020
Dmitry ZAKS, Emmanuel Peuchot

,

AFP

Armenia and Azerbaijan said   Saturday they had agreed a "humanitarian truce" from midnight (2000 GMT) in a new attempt to quell nearly three weeks of fighting over a disputed region.

The ceasefire seeking to end intense clashes over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region went into effect after a major escalation that saw a missile strike kill 13 people including small children in the Azerbaijani city of Ganja. 

It is the warring sides' second attempt to declare a ceasefire to quell the fighting that has killed hundreds of people since September 27.   

Armenia and Azerbaijan had last Saturday agreed to a ceasefire after 11 hours of talks mediated by Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, but then both accused each other of violating the deal.

"The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan have agreed to a humanitarian truce as of October 18, 00h00 local time," Armenia's foreign ministry said late Saturday.

Azerbaijan's foreign ministry confirmed the move in an identical statement.

Vahram Poghosyan, spokesman for the Karabakh separatist leader, told AFP: "We will halt fire along the entire front from midnight."

He said that if Azerbaijan observed the truce Karabakh authorities would "open a humanitarian corridor" for Azerbaijan troops encircled by the separatist army.

"The situation at the front has calmed," Poghosyan separately said on Facebook. 

The latest announcement came after Russia's Lavrov held phone talks with his counterparts from Armenia and Azerbaijan and stressed "the need to strictly follow" the ceasefire deal agreed in Moscow last Saturday, the foreign ministry said.

The ministers also confirmed the importance of beginning "substantive" talks to settle the conflict, the ministry in Moscow said.

– France welcomes truce –

French President Emmanuel Macron "welcomed" the humanitarian truce, the Elysee said in a statement.

"This ceasefire must be unconditional and strictly respected by both parties," added the French presidency.

The latest attempt to halt fighting came after Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev vowed to take revenge on Armenia after a missile strike killed 13 people including small children in the city of Ganja.

The early hours attack, which also saw a strike on the nearby strategic city of Mingecevir, came hours after Azerbaijani forces shelled Stepanakert, the capital of the ethnic Armenian separatist region.

The explosions in Ganja levelled a row of houses and left more than 45 people injured in an attack Aliyev described as "a war crime". 

He said his army would "take revenge on the battlefield" and promised to capture Karabakh by driving out Armenian forces "like dogs".

Prosecutors said that as the result of the attack on Ganjia 13 people died including small children.

An AFP team in Ganja saw rows of houses turned to rubble by the strike, which shattered walls and ripped roofs off buildings in the surrounding streets.

People ran outside in shock and tears, stumbling through dark muddy alleys in their slippers, some wearing bathroom robes and pyjamas.

"We were sleeping and suddenly we heard the blast. The door, glass, everything shattered over us," said Durdana Mammadova, 69, who was standing on the street at daybreak because her house was destroyed. 

Nagorno-Karabakh's military said for its part that Azerbaijani forces had stepped up their attacks on Friday across the front, shelling Stepanakert and a nearby town.

On Saturday, Karabakh separatist leader Arayik Harutyunyan said before the truce took effect that "intensive fighting" continued "along the entire line of defence".

The tit-for-tat attacks have so far undermined international efforts to calm a resurgence of fighting between Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis and avoid drawing regional powers Russia and Turkey into a conflict that has already killed hundreds of people.

– 'EU deplores strikes' –

The EU  earlier Saturday condemned the strike on Ganja and said the original ceasefire deal "must be fully respected without delay".

"The European Union deplores the strikes on the Azerbaijani city of Ganja," said a spokesperson for EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell

"All targeting of civilians and civilian installations by either party must stop."

Turkey, a staunch ally of Azerbaijan and widely accused of supplying mercenaries to bolster Baku's forces, said the strikes were a war crime and called on the international community to denounce them.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan mainly inhabited by ethnic Armenians and backed by Yerevan, has been the scene of deadly clashes since September 27.

According to an official, but partial, toll more than 700 people have been killed in the clashes.

The mountainous western region of Azerbaijan has remained under separatist Armenian control since a 1994 ceasefire ended a brutal war that killed 30,000.

bur-as/pvh

https://news.yahoo.com/missile-strikes-hit-azerbaijan-cities-023401361.html




Artsakh releases detailed list of Azeri military facilities constituting legitimate targets in Ganja

Emma Nadirian

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 11:11,

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 17, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Artsakh has released a detailed list of the Azerbaijani military facilities – which constitute legitimate military targets –  deployed in the city of Ganja.

The Defense Ministry of Artsakh said in a statement that the Azerbaijani armed forces have deployed in Ganja an air force airbase, a military helicopter squadron: the permanent deployment position of an Armed Forces General Staff motor-rifle brigade, Interior Troops special missions brigade, a military combat command center, an Armed Forces General Staff radio-technical battalion, a military fuel base, a military machinery factory and a military aviation-artillery armament repair plant.

The Defense Ministry had officially announced that the Artsakh Defense Army’s countermeasures target exclusively legitimate military targets of Azerbaijan.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Azerbaijani saboteurs kill 25-year-old and 73-year-old Armenian residents in Karabakh’s Hadrut, criminal case launched

Emma Nadirian
News.am, Armenia
Oct 16 2020
Azerbaijani saboteurs kill 25-year-old and 73-year-old Armenian residents in Karabakh's Hadrut, criminal case launched
00:33, 16.10.2020


Advisor to the Prosecutor General of Armenia Gor Abrahamyan has posted the following on his Facebook page:

“A criminal case has been launched in regard to the brutal murders of two residents of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) during the aggressive war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh.

Today a video was disseminated on social networks, showing how servicemen of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, clearly with the motives of national hatred, fire at an unarmed and helpless old man and one young person and continue to shoot at them on the ground.

In relation to the case of murder, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Artsakh has launched a criminal case under the elements of point 1 of part 1 of Article 416 of the Criminal Code of Artsakh.

According to the factual data obtained as a result of the measures taken, the murders of the two civilians who actually have the status of captives and were deprived of protection means — resident of Hadrut B. H. (born in 1947) and resident of Tayk village of Hadrut region Y. A. (born in 1995) were committed in gross violation of international humanitarian law and by servicemen of the sabotage group of Azerbaijan during infiltration into the city of Hadrut (at Artur Mkrtchyan Street).”


CivilNet: Day 15: A Diary from Stepanakert

Emma Nadirian
CIVILNET.AM

19:40

By Lika Zakaryan

It already looks like Groundhog Day.

Stepanakert was not bombed, at least that is how it seems so far, since i’m still in the bunker.. The drones flew, fell, but I did not hear talk of victims. The weather was great today, but it was scary to go outside. Sometimes, it feels like I will never be able to go out into the street.

I woke up at midnight because I couldn't sleep all night from yesterday's heavy bombing. We can already distinguish the sounds – when it’s a Smertch, when it’s a drone, when it’s cluster bombs, and when ours hit the drone. It is very sad that we can all distinguish this. But what can we do? This is our reality today.

I learned that yesterday in Hadrut city, an Azerbaijani sabotage group entered  people's house, killed a mother and her son, who, by the way, is a person with disabilities… I can't find words to express what I think about this … I was in Hadrut a few days ago, filming people in the shelters. There was a boy with disabilities, very cute, he wouldn’t stop hugging everyone, and everyone was angry with him because of this. I talked with his mother, a very nice woman. There is a video of her talking. Now I think, maybe this is all about them? .. Just thinking about it  can make you crazy. I don’t dare ask my friends from Hadrut. 

I keep track of days only when I am going to write the day's post. We rarely look at the clock. It seems that for half a century I have not gone to the office, have not cooked vegetarian pizza, have not eaten Nutella on a  crepe, and have not seen children in the city.

Today a friend suggested saving all this as an archive, like Anne Frank's diary. We decided to do so and call it a diary. It helps to dispel the fear, thanks to a friend for the idea. In a few years, we'll watch and read, tell the children and grandchildren.

I miss my everyday life when my relatives were near. When my friends were near.. My friends in Yerevan invite me to go and rest there a little. To be honest, I would gladly put my head on their lap and cry for hours. But we do not allow such luxuries. I will wait to cry and laugh together in our beloved city. 

Photo: Levon Arshakyan