Friday,
Karabakh Seeks Safe Exit For Leaders
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Residents gather next to buses in central Stepanakert before leaving
Nagorno-Karabakh, September 25, 2023.
The outgoing authorities in Stepanakert are trying to convince Azerbaijan to let
Nagorno-Karabakh’s current and former leaders leave the region along with its
tens of thousands of ordinary residents, a Karabakh official said on Friday.
The official, who did not want to be identified, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service
that Samvel Shahramanian, the Karabakh president, is personally negotiating with
the Azerbaijani side on the issue. He said Shahramanian’s three predecessors --
Arayik Harutiunian, Bako Sahakian and Arkadi Ghukasian -- as well as a former
Karabakh foreign minister, Davit Babayan, are among those who risk being
arrested if they flee to Armenia through the Lachin corridor.
It is not clear whether the issue was on the agenda of a second meeting of
Azerbaijani and Karabakh representatives held in the Azerbaijani town of Yevlakh
later in the day.
Babayan, who is now an adviser to Shahramanian, said on Thursday that Baku wants
to arrest him. He said he will turn himself in because he does not want to
jeopardize the evacuation of other Karabakh Armenians remaining in the region.
Babayan’s whereabouts were not known as of Friday afternoon.
Nagorno Karabak - Former and current Karabakh leaders attend Christmas Mass in
the Stepanakert cathedral, January 6, ,2023.
Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian-born tycoon who served as Karabakh premier from
November 2022 to February 2023, was arrested at the Azerbaijani checkpoint in
the Lachin corridor on Wednesday. Vardanyan was taken to Baku to face a string
of serious criminal charges.
According to media reports, a number of other former Karabakh officials have
also been caught by Azerbaijani security services since then. Karabakh sources
confirmed on Friday that they include Levon Mnatsakanian, a general who
commanded Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army from 2015-2018,
The Azerbaijani authorities announced shortly afterwards the arrest of Davit
Manukian, another Karabakh general who used to be the Defense Army’s deputy
commander. They said Manukian will be prosecuted on “terrorism” charges. His
brother, Gegham Manukian, is a prominent Armenian opposition politician.
Citing an unnamed diplomatic source, the Reuters reported on Thursday that Baku
has drawn up a list of about 200 prominent Karabakh Armenians subject to arrest
and prosecution. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev to grant the Karabakh Armenians “broad amnesty” when they
spoke by phone earlier this week.
Baku is currently gradually restoring full control over Karabakh as a result of
the Azerbaijani army’s September 19 offensive. A Russian-brokered ceasefire that
stopped the fighting on September 20 commits it to permitting Karabakh’s 120,000
or so ethnic Armenian residents to leave their homeland. More than 91,000 of
them have taken refuge in Armenia as of Friday afternoon, according to the
Armenian government.
Armenian Defense Chief Shuns Meeting In Russia
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenia - Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian greets U.S. generals watching
a U.S.-Armenian military exercise, September 15, 2023.
Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian declined to attend a meeting of top
defense officials of ex-Soviet states held in Russia on Friday, underscoring
Yerevan’s deepening rift with Moscow.
A spokesman for Papikian gave no reason for his decision. Nor did he say whether
the Armenian Defense Ministry sent other officials to the annual session of the
Council of Defense Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier in the day that military delegations
of eight CIS countries, including Armenia, will attend the meeting in the
Russian city of Tula. It said the participants include Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Shoigu and his Azerbaijani counterpart Zakir Hasanov.
Papikian similarly shunned in May this year a meeting in Belarus of a smaller
number of ex-Soviet states making up the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO). Yerevan has repeatedly accused Russia and the Russian-led military
alliance of not fulfilling their obligation to defend Armenia against
Azerbaijani attacks.
Russian-Armenian relations deteriorated further this month after Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian declared that the alliance with Russia cannot guarantee his
country’s national security. Pashinian went on to send his wife to Ukraine with
a batch of humanitarian aid and to press ahead with parliament ratification of
the founding treaty of an international court that issued an arrest warrant for
Russian President Vladimir Putin in March.
Moscow condemned those “unfriendly” actions. It warned on Thursday the
ratification of the Rome Statute expected next week would be an “extremely
hostile” move on the part of Yerevan. Armenian opposition groups likewise said
that it could have severe consequences for Armenia.
In another development bound to irk Moscow, Armenian parliament speaker Alen
Simonian on Friday made a point of meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Ruslan
Stefanchuk on the sidelines of an international conference of parliamentarians
in Dublin. The Armenian parliament’s press office said they discussed prospects
for closer ties between Ukrainian and Armenian lawmakers.
It also said Simonian briefed Stefanchuk on the grave humanitarian consequences
of Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh which
forced its ethnic Armenian residents to flee their homeland. Ukraine’s current
and former governments have always backed Azerbaijani efforts to regain control
of Karabakh.
Fugitive Blogger Set To Decide Outcome Of Yerevan Mayoral Race
• Astghik Bedevian
A screenshot of YouTube video posted by Vartan Ghukasian, May 25, 2023.
A U.S.-based video blogger wanted by Armenian law-enforcement authorities could
determine who will be the next mayor of Yerevan following municipal elections in
which his obscure political party did unexpectedly well.
According to official results of the September 17 elections, no political group
won a majority of seats in Yerevan’s 65-seat municipal council empowered to
appoint the mayor. The ruling Civil Contract party came in first with 32.5
percent of the vote that earned it 24 seats in the council.
It was trailed by a small party represented by former Mayor Hayk Marutian (19
percent) and the radical opposition bloc Mayr Hayastan (15.4 percent) that will
control 14 and 12 seats respectively. The Public Voice party of blogger Vartan
Ghukasian won 7 seats, giving the three opposition contenders a narrow majority
in the city council and thus putting them in a position to jointly install the
mayor.
However, they have failed to agree on a common mayoral candidate primarily
because of various conditions set by Ghukasian. Marutian said on Thursday that
even if they reached such a deal they would not have enough votes because the
man topping Public Voice’s electoral list is in jail while the number two figure
on the list is on the run.
The ex-mayor said he and his allies therefore decided to try to force a repeat
election of the city council. Mayr Hayastan made the same decision.
Armenia - A woman votes in municipal elections in Yerevan, Setpember 17, 2023.
Under Armenian law, such a vote will have to be held if Yerevan’s newly elected
Council of Elders fails to make a quorum during its inaugural session scheduled
for October 10. This will happen if all five council members representing Public
Voice and remaining at large boycott the session together with Marutian’s party
and Mayr Hayastan.
Ghukasian did not disclose his position on the boycott in his latest online
video. Instead, he kept setting more conditions for helping Marutian regain the
post of mayor. Local government jobs demanded by him for his loyalists include
the post of a director of one of Yerevan’s cemeteries.
The Yerevan council will make a quorum if at least one of its members affiliated
with Ghukasian’s party shows up for the October 10 session. In that case, Civil
Contract’s mayoral candidate, Tigran Avinian, would need only 27 votes to become
mayor. Avinian would almost certainly be backed by the pro-establishment
Hanrapetutyun party that will hold the remaining 8 council seats.
A former police officer nicknamed Dog, Ghukasian emigrated to the United States
about a decade ago. He has since attracted large audiences with his hard-hitting
and opinionated comments on political developments in Armenia. He has been
notorious for using profanities in his videos posted on YouTube.
Earlier this year, law-enforcement authorities issued an international arrest
warrant for Ghukasian and arrested his associates in Armenia on charges of
blackmail, extortion and fraud strongly denied by them.
Karabakh Refugees Look For Missing Relatives
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Ethnic Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh embrace upon their arrival
in Kornidzor, September 26, 2023. (Stepan Poghosyan/PHOTOLUR Photo via AP)
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has pledged to help
residents of Nagorno-Karabakh fleeing to Armenia search for their relatives who
went missing after Azerbaijan’s September 19 military offensive.
The resulting brief but fierce fighting left hundreds of Karabakh Armenians dead
and unaccounted for and separated many others from their loved ones. This is
especially true for families that lived in communities cut off from the rest of
the region by advancing Azerbaijani troops.
The humanitarian disaster was compounded by Monday’s powerful explosion at a
fuel depot outside Stepanakert. At least 68 people died and more than 100 others
went missing as a result of the blast.
The blast is the reason why Anzhela Hovannisian lost touch with one of her sons
and 14-year-old grandson before fleeing to Armenia along with tens of thousands
of other people.
“I don’t know their whereabouts. My heart is being cut into pieces,” the elderly
woman told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service shortly after crossing the Armenian border.
“What’s the point of coming here without my kids?” she asked, crying.
RFE/RL correspondents have heard in recent days similar stories from dozens of
other refugees. The ICRC, the only international aid organization allowed to
operate in Karabakh, is now trying to help such people.
Vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) transporting
humanitarian aid for residents of Nagorno-Karabakh drive towards the
Armenia-Azerbaijan border along a road near the village of Kornidzor, Armenia,
September 23, 2023.
“If you have a family member who went missing or you think was arrested [by
Azerbaijani authorities] or if you had to leave behind a loved one or their
body, please contact us,” the ICRC’s Yerevan office said in a written notice.
“We get dozens of phone calls every day,” said the office spokeswoman, Zara
Amatuni. “People also visit our office.”
Red Cross workers collect their data before checking with other ICRC offices in
the region and contacting Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities, said Amatuni.
She did not specify how many missing Karabakh residents have been identified or
found by the ICRC so far.
Visiting Armenia on Tuesday, the head of the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID), Samantha Power, said part of $11.5 million allocated by the
United States to Karabakh refugees will support “efforts to reunite families.”
“There are many unaccompanied children who have crossed into the Republic of
Armenia and it is absolutely urgent that they be reunited with their families,”
Power said after talking to refugees in the border town of Goris.
According to the Armenian government, the total number of refugees who have
entered Armenia since September 24 reached almost 98,000 on Friday evening. The
figure accounts for over 80 percent of Karabakh’s estimated population.
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.
Author: Emma Nadirian
Henrikh Mkhitaryan joins countrymen in demanding release of Ruben Vardanyan, all other Armenians detained in Azerbaijan
12:01,
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenian football star, Inter Milan midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan has joined his countrymen in demanding safe release of Ruben Vardanyan and all other Armenians detained in Azerbaijan.
“I join my fellow Armenians in demanding the safe release of Ruben Vardanyan and all other Armenians detained in Azerbaijan. As tens of thousands of families are fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh for safe refuge to Armenia, detention is becoming an alarming trend.
“Ruben Vardanyan stands out as an outspoken advocate for peace not only in our region but in the world. He is a world known philanthropist, businessman and co-founder of the Aurora Prize humanitarian initiative which advocates for peacebuilding and provides people around the world with education and healthcare,” Mkhitaryan said in a statement on Facebook.
Vardanyan, the co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), was arrested by Azeri border guards on September 27 while trying to leave Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia along with tens of thousands of forcibly displaced persons.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has warned that Ruben Vardanyan’s detention by Azerbaijani authorities poses a very high risk of torture and extrajudicial execution or a show trial.
Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 28-09-23
17:32,
YEREVAN, 28 SEPTEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 28 September, USD exchange rate up by 2.29 drams to 390.88 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.95 drams to 411.99 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate stood at 4.03 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 5.12 drams to 476.83 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price down by 107.80 drams to 23717.85 drams. Silver price down by 1.14 drams to 286.40 drams.
How Armenia and Azerbaijan’s conflict could still destabilize the region
VOX
Sept 25 2023
The latest struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, will ripple throughout the region.
A decades-long conflict in the Caucasus flared up last week, as Azerbaijan launched an “anti-terror” strike aimed at Nagorno-Karabakh — the semi-autonomous, majority-Armenian region within its internationally recognized borders.
Now, many of those ethnic Armenians are fleeing the territory. The breakaway region’s leaders told Reuters that as many as 120,000 people — essentially the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh — would leave, out of fear of ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan’s government after the region’s de facto government capitulated to Azerbaijan last week.
For the second time in three years, Azerbaijan’s government made decisive gains in a conflict with Nagorno-Karabakh; this time, the “anti-terror” strike it carried out last week appears like it could dissolve the territory altogether. It’s a result that could echo far beyond Azerbaijan’s borders, as it has escalated an already difficult humanitarian crisis and is roiling Armenian politics.
The trouble in Nagorno-Karabakh didn’t just start last week. The region has been the locus of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but animosity between the two countries goes back to the turn of the 20th century.
After the region was absorbed into the USSR, the Soviet Union designated a majority-Armenian autonomous region within Azerbaijan in 1923 — today known as Nagorno-Karabakh.
Conflict between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan started in earnest in 1988, when the region began agitating for independence. Between 1988 and 1990, Azerbaijan carried out multiple pogroms against Armenians within its borders, and interethnic conflict was common. Moscow intervened in 1990, and in the aftermath of the dissolution of the USSR, Nagorno-Karabakh claimed independence — though the international community has never recognized the breakaway republic.
This declaration inflamed tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Backed by Armenian troops, Karabakh Armenians took control not only of their historical region, but also of much of Azerbaijan’s territory up to the border with Armenia.
While Armenia does not officially recognize Nagorno-Karabakh, this first conflict’s result was a huge moral victory for Armenia, Benyamin Poghosyan, a senior fellow on foreign policy at the Applied Policy Research Institute of Armenia, an independent think tank in Yerevan, told Vox. That territorial gain was “one of the primary pillars of independent Armenian identity,” after centuries of oppression.
But it was also an unsustainable loss for Azerbaijan — about 20 percent of its territory was now outside of the country’s control. And the war took a devastating toll; around 30,000 people were killed in the conflict, and hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azeris fled Armenia and Karabakh.
Azerbaijan, aligned with Turkey, recaptured significant territory in a 2020 war. During that conflict, Russia, which has long been Armenia’s military partner, failed to back Armenia and Karabakh Armenians. That conflict ended in a Russia-brokered ceasefire, which about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have helped ensure.
Cut to last week: On September 19, Azerbaijan launched an “anti-terror” campaign, allegedly in response to the deaths of six people in two land mine explosions within Azerbaijan.
The operation displaced at least 7,000 people and killed around 200, with thousands reportedly still missing. Wednesday, the two sides began discussing a ceasefire after the government of Nagorno-Karabakh agreed to dissolve its military.
Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh accused Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire agreement the next day, though Azerbaijan vehemently denied the claim. There were reports of heavy gunfire that Thursday, but because mobile connectivity and electricity are only sporadically available in the region, verifying claims from either party is nearly impossible.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, Reuters reported Nagorno-Karabakh has handed over 20,000 rounds of ammunition, six armored vehicles, 800 small arms, portable air defense systems, and anti-tank weapons.
In addition to dissolving the armed forces, Zaur Shiriyev, the International Crisis Group’s analyst for the South Caucasus, told Vox via email that the ceasefire agreement involves “the dismantling of all existing de facto institutions, [political] positions, and symbols, and discussions about the integration of local Armenians under Azerbaijani authority,” including how to implement some autonomy at the municipal level and protect Armenian language and customs.
Though Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has promised Karabakh Armenians a “paradise” as part of his country, the Karabakh Armenians are not taking their chances; the Lachin corridor, which connects Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, is already crammed with cars headed to Armenia — for those who have enough fuel to get there amid a serious humanitarian crisis in the region. By Sunday night, 1,050 people had entered Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian government said.
Nagorno-Karabakh, like other potential territorial conflicts, is an issue of great political volatility within Armenia because it is an issue of national pride and identity for many Armenians, and because it is a way to gauge Armenia’s power and influence in the region.
That influence has waned somewhat as Azerbaijan’s military might has grown, aided by increased oil and gas wealth and a security partnership with Turkey, and as Armenia’s relationship with Russia has diminished.
Under current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian government has distanced itself both from Russia and from Nagorno-Karabakh, insisting that it has had nothing to do with the agreement between leaders in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, and the de facto government in Stepanakert, and even backing off of previous hard-line guarantees for the region like autonomous rule, Paghosyan told Vox. Armenia was reluctant to get involved in this latest outbreak of fighting; Pashinyan said he wouldn’t let the country be “drag[ged] … into military operations.”
Russia, which helped broker peace in 2020, has also seen its role in the region greatly reduced. Russian peacekeepers have been present maintaining the 2020 ceasefire, but their influence has softened over the years, particularly due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And their presence has, at best, only been able to keep an uneasy peace, with low-level hostilities common in the region.
“The ongoing war in Ukraine has indeed weakened Russia’s role, and since 2022, coupled with [Azerbaijan’s] checkpoint in Lachin, and the recent brief war that ended with the capitulation of local Armenians, Azerbaijan has gained more control over the region’s affairs than Russia had previously,” Shiriyev said.
Russia has also struggled with maintaining the flow of goods and people across the region’s only physical connection to Armenia, the Lachin corridor. That area has been severely restricted by Azerbaijan since December 2022, Shiriyev said.
“Even before last December, when Azerbaijani-backed activists started protests near the road demanding Azerbaijani control, Baku alleged that the road was being used for unchecked transfers of weapons and natural resources from the region to Armenia,” he explained. In April of this year, Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint on the Lachin corridor, over time choking off transport completely. Since that time, the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh has become increasingly desperate, and only one humanitarian convoy, from the International Committee of the Red Cross, has been permitted to enter the region in months.
Despite Russia’s reduced status in the region, the country is still playing an administrative role in this conflict, facilitating discussions between the Azerbaijani government and local Armenian authorities. “Nowadays, if disarmament takes place, the Russian forces will play a part in it, and over time, they will coordinate the implementation of other ceasefire terms,” Shiriyev told Vox. “Baku views [Russia’s] role as a stabilizing factor, especially in areas where local Armenians live.”
The future looks challenging for Pashinyan as his internal opposition — which is friendlier with Russia than he is — is harnessing protests and frustration with the prime minister over Nagorno-Karabakh to try to get him to resign. “Protests erupted quite spontaneously and only afterwards political opposition wanted to take them over,” Meliqset Panosian, an independent researcher based in Gyumri, Armenia, told Vox.
Though there’s no suggestion of imminent war between the neighbors, regional experts said there is concern that continued crises like last week’s strike could inflame longstanding tensions. Many in Armenia “are feeling humiliated,” Poghosyan told Vox; to restore their dignity, “they will be more inclined to have more nationalistic views.” Armenia is courting other security partners in addition to Russia, and could aspire to build up its military over the coming years. While it’s decidedly the weaker of the two states, it’s not above military conflict. The interests of Russia, Turkey, Western countries, and even Iran overlap and conflict in the region, meaning the potential for animosity and outright hostility remains.
At the very least, Poghosyan said, “I am afraid that for years to come … the South Caucasus and Armenia and Azerbaijan will be volatile.”
Despite the new agreement between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, there are still a great many unknowns — primarily how Armenia will manage an influx of so many people in serious humanitarian need.
In the immediate term, the first priority is for humanitarian aid to reach the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, since many in the area are already suffering from severe hunger, Poghosyan said.
Aliyev has promised that Armenians will enjoy the right to their own language and culture, but Armenians have expressed concerns about violence and even ethnic cleansing — hence the decision by many to leave the territory en masse.
That’s not unfounded, given the region’s history. According to a 2022 State Department report, evidence was found of Armenian graves being desecrated by Azerbaijani soldiers, as well as “severe and grave human rights violations” against Armenian ethnic minorities, including “extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention, as well as the destruction of houses, schools and other civilian facilities.”
Armenian leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh told Reuters that those wishing to leave would be escorted by Russian peacekeepers to Armenia.
“Almost nobody believes in peaceful coexistence with Azerbaijanis,” Stepan Adamyan, an Armenian who works with international journalists, told Vox. “Every hour [on Facebook] I read their posts saying ‘do something, take us out of here.’”
Update, September 25, 11:30 am: This story, originally published September 23, has been updated to include developments in the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenian, Indian foreign ministers discuss South Caucasus security and stability
10:07,
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. On September 24, in New York, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India.
Issues of security and stability in the South Caucasus were discussed, the foreign ministry said in a readout.
FM Ararat Mirzoyan stressed that Azerbaijan’s continuous aggression and the large-scale military attack against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh unleashed on September 19, that was preceded by the 9-months-long blockade of the Lachin corridor and total siege of Nagorno-Karabakh, once again demonstrated the importance of concrete steps by international partners.
The imperative of restraining the steps aimed at destabilisation of the region was emphasised.
Bilateral agenda between Armenia and India was touched upon.
Special Adviser of UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide alarmed over military escalation by Azerbaijan
13:32,
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. The Special Adviser of the UN Secretary- General on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, expressed her alarm over the recent military escalation by Azerbaijan, noted the reported ceasefire announced on 20 September and emphasized the importance of preventing further violence and of ensuring a durable peace in the region that protects the rights of all people.
“Military action can only contribute to escalate what is already a tense situation and to put the civilian population in the area at risk of violence, including risk of genocide and related atrocity crimes. All efforts need to be made to prevent violence and sustain peace,” the Special Adviser stressed in a statement.
Special Adviser Wairimu Nderitu reiterated her call for dialogue and peace, and the call to avoid any escalation of tension, made during her briefing to the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council on 4 July this year, and emphasized the impact of violence on innocent and vulnerable civilians.
“Previous instances of military escalation in the region have had significant negative impact on civilian populations; and there have also been reports of civilian casualties from the recent escalation. The region has further seen frequent reports of hate and divisive narratives being used, fuelling tension. Violence and hatred reinforce each other. We must stop this vicious cycle and work to build a future in which hatred and division are no longer present. I urge all parties to promote constructive dialogue and negotiations in full respect of international humanitarian and human rights law.”
The Special Adviser also expressed concern that these developments are happening despite the recent progress in ensuring humanitarian assistance to the area, including through the Lachin corridor. The Special Adviser recalled the 22 February 2023 Order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which was reaffirmed by the Court on 6 July 2023, indicating provisional measures in the case concerning the Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v Azerbaijan). She also echoed calls made by the United Nations Secretary-General on 24 February and 3 August 2023, noting that decisions of the ICJ are binding on the Parties. The Special Adviser expressed the importance that they be fully implemented, including the Order to take all measures to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. This message she had previously reiterated, including at the 28 April 2023 event organized by the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations on ‘Prevention of Atrocity Crimes in the Digital Era’. “The fact that some humanitarian assistance has been able to reach the population in the area constitutes a positive step which needs to be continued, in line with international humanitarian law. This was an important step forward which requires building upon. All people deserve to live a life free from hatred, insecurity, hunger, and conflict.”
Armenian, French foreign ministers discuss situation resulting from Azeri aggression in Nagorno-Karabakh
12:13,
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. On September 22, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna on the margins of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York City.
As a follow-up to the previous discussions and the September 21 UNSC emergency meeting, Mirzoyan and Colonna discussed the situation resulting from the Azerbaijani aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, the foreign ministry said in a readout.
The overall security situation in the South Caucasus, partnership as part of international organizations and the Armenia-EU partnership agenda were also discussed.
Russia Voices ‘Concern’ Over Ally’s Joint Military Drills With US
Newsweek
Sept 6 2023
The U.S. will hold military exercises with Armenia this month in a widely unexpected move that has prompted Russia—a long-time backer of Armenia and fellow member of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)—to express its "concern."
The "Eagle Partner 2023" drill, while expected to be only a small exercise, appears to be the latest step in a long-term process of Armenian moving away from Moscow's influence because of the Kremlin's inability to resolve the ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the September 11-20 Eagle Partner 2023 exercise is designed to prepare its forces for participation in international peacekeeping missions. The focus, it said, will be "stabilization operations between conflicting parties during peacekeeping tasks."
A U.S. military spokesperson told Reuters that 85 American soldiers and 175 Armenians would be involved in the drill. The U.S. troops taking part are members of the Kansas National Guard, which has been training with Armenian forces for 20 years. The spokesperson also said no heavy weaponry will be involved in the drill.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the news "causes concern, especially in the current situation. Therefore, we will deeply analyze this news and monitor the situation."
Russia has traditionally held sway in the South Caucasus region, where the Soviet Union's borders once encompassed the now independent states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Moscow still has a military base in Armenia, and the country is part of the Kremlin-led CSTO military alliance.
But Moscow-Armenia relations have been deteriorating because of the ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but whose 120,000 people are mostly ethnic Armenians. It is governed by the self-declared Republic of Artsakh.
The most recent clash over the territory concluded with an Azerbaijani victory in 2020, and Russian peacekeepers were then deployed to uphold the agreement that ended the fighting. It was the second large-scale conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since the two nations became independent in the 1990s.
But Moscow's forces have proved unable to prevent resurgent tensions and keep open a key road—known as the Lachin Corridor—linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani forces blocked the road last December despite the presence of Russian troops. The route remains closed, leading to significant food shortages in the enclave.
The tensions over the corridor reportedly prompted the removal this week of the head of Russia's peacekeeping force, Colonel General Alexander Lentsov. He is the second commander to have been removed in 2023, having replaced his predecessor, Major General Andrei Volkov, in April.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this past weekend it had been a mistake for his country to become so dependent on Russian protection. "Armenia's security architecture was 99.999 percent linked to Russia, including when it came to the procurement of arms and ammunition," Pashinyan told Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
"But today we see that Russia itself is in need of weapons, arms and ammunition [for the Ukraine war] and in this situation it's understandable that even if it wishes so, the Russian Federation cannot meet Armenia's security needs," he continued. "This example should demonstrate to us that dependence on just one partner in security matters is a strategic mistake."
The Kremlin hit back, with Peskov telling reporters that Russia "is an absolutely integral part of this region" and "plays a consistent, very important role in stabilizing the situation in this region…and we will continue to play this role."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Pashinyan's comments were "public rhetoric verging on rudeness."
Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted "the United States' concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh" in a call to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev.
"He reiterated our call to reopen the Lachin Corridor to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic, while recognizing the importance of additional routes from Azerbaijan," a State Department readout said.
Pashinyan's measures undermining ties with Russia have gone beyond the rhetorical. Last year, Armenia refused to allow scheduled CSTO exercises on its territory and then said it would not send troops to take part in alliance drills in Belarus.
Also last year, Pashinyan humiliated Russian President Vladimir Putin and other CSTO leaders by refusing to sign a joint alliance declaration at the conclusion of a summit in Yerevan, Armenia's capital. The prime minister said the document did not offer a "clear political assessment" condemning Azerbaijani incursions into Armenian territory.
Recent weapons purchases from France further indicate Yerevan's nascent Western pivot. Armenia has traditionally relied on Russia almost exclusively for its military acquisitions. But its defeat by Azerbaijan's technologically superior force in 2020 pointed to the country's need to update its arsenals.
Another notable signal of Pashinyan's intentions came in the form of Armenia's proposal to ratify the Rome Statute, the foundational document of the International Criminal Court. The court issued an arrest warrant for Putin earlier this year in connection with charges of forced mass deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the plan as "absolutely unacceptable" and warned of "extremely negative" consequences for bilateral relations.
In a further apparent rebuke of Russian conduct in Ukraine, Pashinyan's wife—Anna Hakobyan—will reportedly attend an aid summit in Kyiv being organized by Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-voices-concern-ally-joint-military-drills-us-armenia-csto-azerbaijan-1825002
Tension on Armenia-Azerbaijan border discussed in Pashinyan-Blinken call,PM reiterates commitment to diplomatic solution
15:32, 9 September 2023
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke by phone on September 9 with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
PM Pashinyan and Secretary Blinken discussed the worsening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor, the accumulation of Azerbaijani troops around Nagorno-Karabakh, and the increasing tension on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a readout.
Prime Minister Pashinyan once again emphasized his commitment to the approach of settling all issues exclusively through diplomatic means and in a constructive atmosphere, based on the agreements reached on October 6, 2022 in Prague and on May 14, 2023 in Brussels.
Antony Blinken emphasized the importance of resolving all issues through dialogue and peaceful diplomatic means, and noted that the US will continue active efforts in that direction.
The Prime Minister and the US Secretary of State considered the escalation of the situation unacceptable, stressing the need to ensure peace and stability in the region.
Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that he is ready to have urgent discussions with the President of Azerbaijan for this purpose.
Azerbaijan arrests three Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians for ‘insulting’ Azerbaijani flag
Aug 29 2023
29 August 2023
Azerbaijani border troops detained three residents of Nagorno-Karabakh at the Lachin checkpoint on Monday afternoon, prompting a protest in the region’s capital of Stepanakert. Azerbaijan announced that the young men would be detained for 10 days, allegedly for insulting the Azerbaijani flag two years ago.
The three football players, two of whom were born in 2001, the third in 2003, were charged with inciting national hatred and violating the Azerbaijani flag.
Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor’s Office stated on Monday evening that a criminal case against the men had been dropped in light of ‘the age of the accused individuals, their sincere remorse, and compliance with the requirements of procedural legislation’. However, the men have been sentenced to ten days of administrative detention, and will subsequently be ‘expelled’ from Azerbaijan.
The arrests were made on the basis of footage showing football players from Nagorno-Karabakh walking on the Azerbaijani flag with their teammates, reportedly in 2021.
News of the arrest of Alen Sargsyan, 22, came from the authorities in Stepanakert on Monday afternoon, who stated that Sargsyan was travelling out of the region accompanied by Russian peacekeepers to start his classes at a university in Yerevan in September. News of the arrest of Vahe Hovsepyan and Levon Grigoryan, Sargsyan’s teammates, was later broken by Armenian and Azerbaijani outlets.
Artak Beglaryan, an adviser to Nagorno-Karabakh’s president, told RFE/RL that several other people were interrogated in a ‘special room’ at the checkpoint, where they were asked questions about the ‘economic situation in Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] and Armenia’, their involvement in sports, and the purpose of their visit to Armenia.
Beglaryan added that the Russian peacekeeping mission was negotiating for the return of the men from Azerbaijan.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday, accusing Azerbaijan of abducting the men, noting that their travel had been agreed in advance and was accompanied by Russian peacekeeping forces.
The statement accused Azerbaijan of avoiding dialogue with Nagorno-Karabakh and pursuing a policy of ‘ethnic cleansing’, stating that Nagorno-Karabakh’s population had been subjected to starvation, a blockade of medical supplies, essential goods, gas, and electricity, as well as being denied ‘all fundamental human rights […] regardless of age, gender, [or] health status’.
‘Instead of supporting the steps to establish peace and stability in the region, Azerbaijan has put all its efforts into failing them’, the statement said.
A few hundred protesters gathered in the centre of Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, Stepanakert, late on Monday, shortly after news of the men's detention was made public. They were demanding information about the fate of the men from the authorities. Nagorno-Karabakh’s President Arayik Harutyunyan spoke to the leaders of the protest, on the condition that the conversation was held off the record. No details of their conversation were made public.
Around the same time, a smaller protest was held in front of the Russian Embassy in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, where protesters demanded that Russian peacekeepers fulfil their obligations and lift the blockade of the Lachin corridor.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Security Council held an emergency meeting on Monday evening, following an extraordinary meeting of parliament. According to official statements, President Harutyunyan informed the security council about what was being done to find out what had happened to the men ‘kidnapped by Azerbaijan’, and the steps being taken to return them to Nagorno-Karabakh.
In total, Azerbaijan has arrested four men while they attempted to pass through the Azerbaijani checkpoint at the entrance of the Lachin corridor, the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
[Read more: Azerbaijan arrests Nagorno-Karabakh resident for ‘war crimes’]
The incidents have sparked concerns in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh that residents of the region are not safe travelling through the corridor, despite Baku's repeated claims that the road is open for civilians.
Vagif Khachatrian was the first Nagorno-Karabakh resident to be detained at the checkpoint in late July. The 68-year-old, who was being evacuated to Armenia by the Red Cross for heart surgery, was charged with ‘war crimes’ allegedly committed during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Authorities in Stepanakert have dismissed the charges, denying that Khachatrian participated in a massacre of Azerbaijani civilians in the town of Khojaly, Nagorno-Karabakh in 1992.
Entry and exit of goods and people to Nagorno-Karabakh has been blocked since December 2022. Since mid-June, the region has been under complete blockade, prompting reports of severe shortages of food and medicine.
[Read more: First death from starvation reported in blockade-struck Nagorno-Karabakh]
The International Court of Justice, and a number of Western countries and human rights organisations have in recent months called on Azerbaijan to lift the blockade and ensure traffic to and from the region.
The International Committee of the Red Cross and the HALO Trust, both operating in Nagorno-Karabakh, have warned of a humanitarian emergency in the region. The latter, an international de-mining organisation, has launched a fundraising drive to help poorer residents of the region to meet their basic needs, as the remaining food available for sale has dramatically increased in price.
For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.
https://oc-media.org/azerbaijan-arrests-three-nagorno-karabakh-armenians-for-insulting-azerbaijani-flag/