Author: Garnik Zakarian

Asbarez: Armenian Soldier Killed by Azerbaijani Sniper Fire

Garnik Zakarian
July 27,  2020

Ashot Mikayelyan

Yerevan Says Baku Will be Held Responsible for Further Provocations

A soldier of the Armenian Armed Forces was killed in the early hours of Monday by Azerbaijani sniper fire at the northeastern section of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported that Ashot Mikayelyan was killed at around 1:10 a.m. local time Monday when Azerbaijani forces used sniper fire against Armenia.

Mikaeyelyan is the the sixth soldier who has been killed since Azerbaijan launched a brazen attack on civilian and military targets in Armenia’s Tavush Province on July 12.

Last week, 19-year-old private Artur Muradyan, who was severely injured during the heavy fighting in the week of July 12, died. Armenia’s Defense Ministry had reported the deaths of Major Garush Hambardzumyan, Captain Sos Elbakyan and privates Smbat Gabrielyan and Grisha Matevosyan a week earlier.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry was quick to condemn Azerbaijan’s continued provocations at the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, saying Baku was undermining the efforts of international mediators who are attempting to de-escalate tensions.

“It should be stressed that Azerbaijan resorted to this provocation a few days after a statement issued by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which specifically emphasized the importance of strictly adhering to the ceasefire and refraining from provocative actions in this period,” Armenia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said Monday.

“At the same time, Azerbaijan announced joint large-scale military exercises to be held with Turkey. This demonstrates that the leadership of Azerbaijan, through its provocative actions, is undermining the efforts of the international mediators aimed at de-escalating the situation and resuming the peace process, thus bearing the responsibility for the consequences of further destabilization,” emphasized Naghdalyan.

“Azerbaijan should publicly renounce the use of force, abandon its maximalist approaches, and take credible steps to strengthen the ceasefire, which will make possible the resumption and advancement of the peace process,” added Naghdalyan.

Armenian FM holds phone talk with Lebanese counterpart

Garnik Zakarian

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 10:19,

YEREVAN, JULY 28, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan had a telephone conversation with Lebanon’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Nassif Hitti, the Armenian MFA said.

The ministers exchanged views on the ways to further strengthen and expand the bilateral cooperation.

In the context of overcoming the socio-economic challenges caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, both sides highlighted the role of international cooperation and mutual support.

The Armenian and Lebanese FMs also discussed a number of regional and international issues. FM Mnatsakanyan touched upon issues relating to the regional peace and security and introduced Armenia’s approaches on these matters to his Lebanese counterpart.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

PM Pashinyan sends congratulatory message to Belgian PM on National Day

Garnik Zakarian

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 19:42,

YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to Prime Minister of Belgium Sophie Wilmès on National Day.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, the message runs as follows,

''I cordially congratulate you and the friendly people of Belgium on the occasion of the National Day of Belgium.

I highly value the high level of interstate relations between Armenia and Belgium and the achievements recorded in various spheres.

I am confident that due to our joint efforts the mutually beneficial cooperation between Armenia and Belgium will continue to develop and expand on bilateral and multilateral formats, including in the sidelines of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the EU.

I wish you health and success, and lasting welfare and peace to the friendly people of Belgium''.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

4 fallen servicemen of Armenian Armed Forces posthumously awarded with Medals

Garnik Zakarian

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 15:16,

YEREVAN, JULY 15, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian signed decrees on posthumously awarding four servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces who were killed in the military operations launched by Azerbaijan on the border with Armenia.

According to the presidential decrees,

Mayor Garush Hambardzumyan has been posthumously awarded with the 2nd Degree Medal for the Services to the Motherland,

Captain Sos Elbakyan – with the Medal of Courage,

Junior sergeants Smbat Gabrielyan and Grisha Matevosyan – with the Medals for Combat Service.

Earlier today Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan petitioned President Armen Sarkissian to posthumously award fallen servicemen.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Kazakhstan expresses deep concern over Armenia-Azerbaijan border fighting

Garnik Zakarian

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 20:02,

YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS. Kazakhstan has expressed deep concern over the fighting at the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

“The Republic of Kazakhstan is deeply concerned over the armed incident which took place at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which resulted in human losses. We are calling on our friends, the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia to display restraint and refuse from using measures of force for solving disputes,” the Kazakh foreign ministry said in a statement.

It noted that the further escalation of the clashes amid the COVID-19 pandemic and global social-economic deterioration may lead to unpredictable negative consequences.

“We express hope that peace and agreement will be reached speedily, firstly in a bilateral format. We are ready to assist by all means in searching the peaceful ways of conflict settlement within international organizations, including the UN, OSCE, CIS, Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) platforms,” it said.

Azerbaijani troops launched an attack on an Armenian military base in Tavush province, using artillery, mortar shells and UAVs. The Azerbaijani military also shelled the town of Chinari with 120mm mortars, damaging civilian homes.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Azerbaijani president calls into question negotiations with Armenia

Garnik Zakarian
EurasiaNet.org
July 7 2020
Joshua Kucera Jul 7, 2020

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev gives an interview to local media in which he issued rare, harsh criticism to the international mediators helping negotiate with Armenia. (photo: president.az)

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has sharply criticized the international mediators of his country’s negotiations with Armenia, saying that the peace process has become “meaningless.”

The broadside comes as fighting along the line of contact between the two sides has been remarkably quiet, but also as diplomatic progress appears to have stalled since early hopes engendered by the 2018 coming to power of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Armenia.

Aliyev made his comments in a July 6 interview with local television following the construction of a new hospital in Baku for the treatment of coronavirus patients. It was just a week after the last meeting, via videoconference, of the foreign ministers of the two sides.

He criticized Armenia at length, calling it “fascist,” a “dictatorship,” and “a country of criminals, thieves, and bribetakers” and complaining that Western organizations instead pick on Azerbaijan because of the influence of the “Armenian lobby” and ethnic Armenian officials in Western governments. But what stood out was his attack on the OSCE’s Minsk Group, the diplomatic body led by the United States, Russia, and France that mediates talks between the two warring sides.

“Today, the negotiation process is not moving,” he said. “Video conferences of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are meaningless. It simply is meant to show that the Minsk Group is active. But is it? To be active means to act.”

While grumbling from both sides about the Minsk Group is not uncommon, such a direct attack is rare. The last time Aliyev so directly criticized the diplomats was in February and March of 2016. In April of that year, Azerbaijan launched an attack that resulted in the worst fighting since the two sides signed a ceasefire in 1994. More than 200 were killed in what has become known as the “April War” or the “Five-Day War.”

Aliyev referred to 2016 in his July 6 comments. “Justice is on our side,” he said. “We have shown that we are right both in the international arena and on the battlefield, and let no one forget about the April War.”

“Very ominous statement,” wrote Richard Kauzlarich, a former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, on Twitter. “Rather than serious negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, President Aliyev blames/belittles Minsk Group mediation – hints at military option.”

“Ilham Aliyev effectively presented the Minsk Group with a choice,” one analyst wrote on the website minval.az. “Either this incomprehensible structure, which has taken on the role of ‘negotiator,’ ‘mediator’ and so on, starts to really resolve this conflict and, to use the mildest phrase, call the Armenians aggressors and force Yerevan to respect international law in general and the borders of Azerbaijan in particular, or Azerbaijan will do it itself.”

The bellicose statements came in contrast to the relatively quiet situation on the ground. The coronavirus outbreak in both countries has corresponded to a lull in ceasefire violations, and June was the quietest month of the year so far, with no major incidents or casualties.

They come, however, as the Armenian side has been pushing its advantage on the ground. Pashinyan has been trying to get the Minsk Group to accept the ethnic Armenian de facto leadership of Nagorno Karabakh – the territory at the heart of the conflict between the two sides – as a third party in the negotiations. Azerbaijan has rejected the proposal.

The recent inauguration of the de facto leader of Karabakh was held in Shusha, the city that used to be the center of Karabakh’s ethnic Azerbaijani population. For Armenian officials, including Pashinyan, to celebrate in Shusha was seen by Azerbaijan as a provocation.

“Why is there no adequate reaction to this?” Aliyev asked, referring to the Minsk Group. “Why not say that this is a provocation, for which Armenia will be held responsible?”

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry – which has been conducting the negotiations that Aliyev has deemed “meaningless” – continues to face pressure from inside the government. Officers from the security services searched the building and three senior officials were arrested on corruption charges, the authorities announced on July 6.

The investigation comes as Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has been himself the subject of attacks about his effectiveness, leading to suspicions that he may be not long for his job. “[T]here is no doubt that after such an event, which has been launched at the highest level, the likelihood of the keeping Elmar Mammadyarov as a foreign minister drops sharply,” an analysis from the independent news agency Turan concluded.

 

Joshua Kucera is the Turkey/Caucasus editor at Eurasianet, and author of .

https://eurasianet.org/azerbaijani-president-calls-into-question-negotiations-with-armenia

Turkey must face a reckoning for its crimes in Iraqi Kurdistan

Garnik Zakarian 
Ahval


David Phillips
July 8, 2020

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is pursuing a neo-Ottoman
agenda to expand Turkey’s borders, attacking Iraqi Kurdistan and the
Kurds in northern Syria under the guise of fighting terrorism.
Turkey’s actions are also intended to undermine U.S.-mediated
reconciliation talks between Kurdish factions. Erdoğan opposes Kurdish
unity and has vowed to strangle Kurdish peace and progress lest they
challenge Turkey’s hegemonic interests.

The United States should strongly condemn Turkey’s aggression,
including the recent incursion by Turkish forces into Iraqi Kurdistan.
Erdoğan should be held responsible for violating Iraqi sovereignty, as
well as war crimes by Turkey and its jihadist proxies. It is, however
unlikely that U.S. President Donald Trump will criticise one of his
favourite dictators.

The Kurds must document Turkey’s war crimes, making the case for
accountability to a future U.S. administration. Columbia University’s
research team has collected data on incursions by Turkey in Iraqi
Kurdistan in 2020. The following is a partial account of Turkey’s
crimes:

    January 7: A Turkish air strike kills two people in the Gara
region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

    February 29: Six people are killed during air strikes in the
Metina and Gara regions.

    March 9: Halide Tari, a leader of the women's branch of the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), killed in Qandil.

    March 13: War planes strike the Bradost region of Sidekan, bombing
Khalifa and Geli Reş villages.

    March 26: The Turkish Defence Ministry reports killing eight PKK
members in the Haftanin region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

    April 15: Galya Bekir, a top leader of the PKK, assassinated by
Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MİT).

    April 17: A Turkish drone strike against the Makhmour refugee camp
east of Mosul kills two female refugees.

    May 4: War planes bomb Sinine village in the Bradost region,
destroying the road leading to the village.

    May 26. A cross-border action by the TSK in Duhok province wounds
a 13-year-old girl.

    May 27: Turkish war planes target a vehicle, killing five people
in Mawat town, north of Suleimani province.

    May 30: Turkish airstrikes kill 60-year-old Jalal Nuradin and his
32-year-old son Ahmed, and wounding one person in the village of
Hetuta on the outskirts of Amedi district.

    June 7: Turkish bombardments cause huge fires in mountainous areas
in northern parts of the Kurdistan Region, near the villages of Siran
and Meragarsh in Erbil's Soran district.

    June 15: Turkish war planes attack several locations in the
Shingal district, and other locations close to the Makhmour refugee
camp, which is hosting Kurdish refugees from Turkey. Eighteen Turkish
planes targeted Shingal, Makhmour, Gwer, and Erbil, reaching the
Sharqat district nearly 200 km from the Turkish border.

    June 19: Four civilians killed in a Turkish airstrike on Sheladize
district in Duhok province.

    June 21: Turkish air strikes in Duhok province land 1 km away from
Christian community of Bersv and three Yezidi camps, causing extensive
property damage.

    June 25: Air strikes in the Bradost sub-district in northern Erbil
province hit communities near Mount Zararan, causing widespread fires.

    June 25: Air strikes target Sidakan areas in Erbil’s ​​Soran district
    and Kuna-Massi, a picnic area in Sharbazher district in Sulaimani
province, killing and wounding family members on holiday.

Turkey justifies it aggression as counter-terrorism against the PKK.
On May 25, Turkey’s Defence Minister Hulusi Akar boasted that 1,458
PKK militants had been killed in cross-border operations since the
beginning of 2020.

In reality, civilians bear the brunt of Turkey’s aggression. Hundreds
of civilians have been killed and at least 115 border villages have
been evacuated.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has condemned
Turkey’s attacks. Its chair Gayle Manchin has called on Turkey “to
immediately cease its brutal air strikes in Sinjar, Iraq and to
withdraw any ground troops - who represent a dangerous escalation of
violence in an already-fragile area.”

Rep. Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
concurred on Twitter: “I strongly condemn the Turkish air strikes &
ground operations near Kurdish and Yazidi civilian areas...This type
of reckless endangerment of civilian lives is unacceptable, especially
for a NATO ally.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded by parroting Turkish
propaganda, calling on Turkey, Iraq and the Kurds to work together in
the fight against terrorism.

The Iraqi government ignored Pompeo, protesting Turkey’s violations of
its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Former Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, warned in a Twitter post:

“The recent Turkish military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan in the
Zakho region is a very serious geopolitical development. The intensity
of the attack is alarming. Calls by Turkish leaders to revive
historical claims of Mosul province are even far more disturbing.”

Kurds are not the only victims. Many Christian villages in Zakho and
Yazidis in Sinjar fled Turkey’s attacks. Women and children have been
Turkey’s primary victims in Makhmour.

Turkey should face a reckoning for its crimes. Fighting so-called
terrorism does not entitle Turkey to slaughter civilians.

Newspaper: Armenia authorities to open Amulsar for operation?

Garnik Zakarian
News.am, Armenia
July 4 2020

09:32, 04.07.2020
                  

Armenian FM to pay working visit to Artsakh

Garnik Zakarian

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 16:07, 3 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. Foreign minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan will depart for the Republic of Artsakh on a working visit, the MFA told Armenpress.

The FM is scheduled to meet with Artsakh’s President, Speaker of Parliament and Foreign minister.

FM Mnatsakanyan will also be hosted by Primate of the Artsakh Diocese, Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

No other way out: Armenia’s Health Minister calls for “conscious” lockdown

Garnik Zakarian
Public Radio of Armenia

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Armenia’s Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan calls for conscious, voluntary lockdown, instead of imposed one. In a Facebook message, the Minister said:

“We all need to restrict our non-essential contacts, movements, visits, events, meetings.

We must stay at home as much as possible.

On weekends we should also stay at home, not go to parties, picnics.

Group or even individual visits to various places of interest should be stopped, now is not the time.

We should stop celebrating various occasions, such as the birth of a child, birthdays, wedding anniversaries, etc., including in your own homes.

Participation in funeral events should be limited as much as possible, practically stopped. Condolences offered over phone in this epidemic situation should be considered more valuable.

In the evening we should also stay at home, avoid going out and communicating with neighbors. It’s simply necessary not to meet, not to communicate, stay away from each other, avoid drinking coffee together, etc.

Children, no matter how difficult it may be, need to be kept at home as long as possible. It’s necessary to think of other activities for the children so that they don’t go to play in the yard.

Do not visit your relatives, if there is no vital need, contact them remotely. That sacrifice is needed to save their lives.

Stop visiting cafes and restaurants, it is the only place where it is possible to be without a mask and infect each other. If you want to get food from that restaurant, order it and eat alone.

Don’t go out for walk in the evening. We must be able to withstand that temptation and comply with this important demand until the situation improves.

In all other cases, it’s necessary to wear a mask correctly, keep a distance of 1.5-2 m, and often disinfect the hands.

There is simply no other way out of this situation.”