Author: Garo Vardanian

Azerbaijan jails critics of Karabakh offensive

Garo Vardanian
Eurasianet
Sept 22 2023
Sep 22, 2023

The Azerbaijani government has begun arresting anti-war activists in the country following its offensive to take over Nagorno-Karabakh. 

At least five people known for publicly criticizing the attack were arrested in the last few days, and one's whereabouts is unknown.

In the weeks preceding the offensive, Azerbaijani state-run and government-aligned media had mounted a smear campaign against the country's small community of anti-war voices that emerged after the Second Karabakh War in 2020.

The first reported detention was of former Azerbaijani diplomat Emin Shaig Ibrahimov. He was arrested on September 20 and placed in administrative custody for a month for "spreading prohibited information," according to his lawyer Agil Layic. 

Layic quoted his client as saying that he was taken from his home by plainclothes officers pretending to be utility workers, and that his house was raided without a warrant, with his laptop and cell phones confiscated. 

"The real reason for his arrest is his use of social media for expressing his views and criticism," Layic said, quoting his client. 

Ibrahimov has long been known for his skeptical social media posts about Azerbaijan's activities vis-a-vis Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. In his last Facebook post before his arrest, he reiterated his belief that Azerbaijan's blockade of the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, its installation of a checkpoint on that road, and launch of the latest assault, were all agreed with Russia, which has peacekeeping contingent in the Armenian-populated region. 

On the same day, another outspoken critic of Azerbaijan's war efforts, Amrah Tahmazov, was put in jail for a month on the same charges. Tahmazov is known for his opposition to the 2020 war (in which Azerbaijan retook most of the territory it had lost in the first war in the 1990s) and the Azerbaijani government in general. In May too, he served a one-month administrative sentence after he wrote a Facebook post criticizing President Ilham Aliyev in defense of a fellow hunger-striking activist. 

A day earlier, activist Javid Ahmadov was summoned to the State Security Service, and released after reportedly being interrogated for four hours about his anti-war stance. 

Nemat Abbasov, another activist who is himself a veteran of the 2020 war, was detained on September 20 for a month on charges of disobeying the police. He had written on Facebook that "[a]ny mentality that legitimizes human deaths is stupid and wicked. Whatever their intention, thoughts that serve hatred, death, and any such concepts must be rejected." 

A day later, journalist Nurlan Gahramanli was arrested for a month on charges of spreading prohibited information. His friends who attended his hearing said he told the court that he had been beaten by officers of the prosecutor's office. He is quoted as saying that he believes his arrest was because of his anti-war posts.

On September 13, before the offensive, Gahramanli had told VoA that he had been summoned to the State Security Service and threatened with rape for his posts condemning Baku's apparent plans for a new offensive. 

Another activist, Afiaddin Mammadov, was arrested on charges of hooliganism and intentionally causing damage to a person's health. His supporters say it was a set-up. According to one fellow activist, he found himself in the vicinity of a person who had stabbed himself, he (Mammadov) was then punched in the face so he could not leave the scene and had the knife forcibly placed in his hand so it would have his fingerprints. 

Another government critic, Movsum Mammadov, was reportedly summoned to the prosecutor's office in Kurdamir, a town in central Azerbaijan, two days ago. His whereabouts have been unknown since then. In his most recent Facebook posts, he mocked the launch of the new war and lamented the loss of soldiers' lives. 

The Azerbaijani government has never been at ease with those calling for peace or criticizing the country's stance on the Karabakh conflict. During the 2020 war, several peace activists were summoned to the State Security Service, though none were arrested at that time. 

In September last year, following Azerbaijan's attacks on Armenian territory, pro-government media started a campaign against oppositionists who condemned the offensive, calling them traitors. One young politician, Ahmad Mammadli, known for his anti-war calls, was placed in administrative detention at the time. 

And most recently, on the eve of the latest offensive, Azerbaijani media resumed its smear campaign against anti-war activists. 

"During the recent war [President] Aliyev has also continued his usual business of imprisoning his critics," Altay Goyushov, historian and government critic, posted on X (formerly Twitter). "Several peace activists including Amrah Tahmazov were locked behind bars yesterday. Amrah is accused of violating the internet rules of Azerbaijan, which in the language of local authorities means that he caused troubles to Aliyev’s propaganda ring." 



Ethnic Armenians to leave Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan victory, local official says

Garo Vardanian
CNN
Sept 24 2023
By Alex Stambaugh, Josh Pennington, Heather Chen and Hafsa Khalil, CNN

The ethnic Armenian population in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region will leave for Armenia after Azerbaijan reclaimed the territory in a brief offensive, a local official says.

“Our people do not want to live as part of Azerbaijan. Ninety-nine point nine percent prefer to leave our historic lands,” David Babayan, an adviser to Samvel Shahramanyan, the president of the self-styled Republic of Artsakh, told Reuters. The region is known as Artsakh to Armenians.

“The fate of our poor people will go down in history as a disgrace and a shame for the Armenian people and for the whole civilized world,” Babayan said, adding that those responsible will have to answer before God.

Azerbaijan’s short offensive this week ended in a Russia-brokered ceasefire in which separatist Armenian fighters agreed to surrender and lay down their arms. The truce apparently marked the end of a conflict that has raged on and off for three decades.

Although internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, the landlocked mountainous region is home to 120,000 ethnic Armenians, who make up the majority of the population, and have created their own de facto government, rejecting Azerbaijani rule.

Azerbaijan says it will guarantee the rights of those living in the region. But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and international experts have repeatedly warned of the risk of ethnic cleansing of Armenians in the enclave.

Babayan’s comments come as the first aid reached Nagorno-Karabkh Saturday since the ceasefire began.

The convoy consisted of nearly 70 metric tons of humanitarian supplies including wheat flour, salt, dried yeast and sunflower oil, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The aid had been transported along the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the ICRC said.

The road has been blockaded since December 2022 by Azerbaijan, making it inaccessible to civilian and commercial traffic.

The ICRC added that it carried out the medical evacuation of 17 people who were wounded during fighting and had delivered medical supplies and body bags as aid.

“Given the scale of humanitarian needs, we are increasing our presence there with specialized personnel in health, forensics, protection, and weapons contamination,” the ICRC said.

Azerbaijan has reclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh. What does that mean for the tens of thousands living there?

Russia – the traditional regional power broker – has delivered 50 tons of aid, including rations and basic necessities, to Stepanakert, the region’s capital, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported Saturday.

At least 200 people were killed and over 400 others wounded in Azerbaijan’s military operation, officials said.

US Senator Gary Peters, who is currently in Armenia leading a US Congressional Delegation, said he viewed the blockade at the Lachin corridor with the US ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien and governor of Armenia’s Syunik province, Robert Ghukasyan.

“I’ve talked to many people who are very concerned about their loved ones, families and what has happened to them,” Peters told reporters on Saturday.

“They know they have been suffering as a result of the blockade over many months, shortages of food, medical supplies, basic gasoline and petrol,” he added. “It’s a dire situation from what I have heard and I’m very concerned.”

A Tragic Endgame in Karabakh THOMAS DE WAAL

Garo Vardanian
Carnegie Europe
Sept 22 2023

THOMAS DE WAAL



A fresh disaster may be looming in Nagorny Karabakh, the majority-Armenian highland enclave within the borders of Azerbaijan.

On September 19, a lightning Azerbaijani offensive overwhelmed inferior Armenian forces, and Azerbaijan took possession of the province it had not controlled in thirty-five years. Locals reported at least 200 casualties, and there were credible reports of civilian deaths.

A day later, the Karabakh Armenians signed a ceasefire agreement under duress, by which they agreed to dismantle their local self-defense force. Talks took place between local Karabakhi Armenians and emissaries from Baku, but the Azerbaijani side is offering neither autonomy nor an elected local government. In a speech, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said that the Armenians could enjoy educational, cultural, and religious rights—a meager offer from the leader of an authoritarian one-party state to people who largely do not speak the same language. In essence, Karabakhis are now negotiating the terms of their own surrender, and for many, that will mean exodus from their homeland.

Force, not diplomacy, has decided the course of this conflict since it first flared up during the era of former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. (Some would say it originated well before, in the early twentieth century.) In 1988, the Karabakhi Armenians tried to break away from Soviet Azerbaijan and join Soviet Armenia in a dispute that developed into armed conflict. In the 1990s, the Armenians prevailed on the battlefield, occupying large parts of Azerbaijani territory and driving hundreds of thousands of inhabitants from their homes. In 2020, the Azerbaijanis reversed the situation, recapturing their lost territories and taking parts of Karabakh, too.

To the frustration of Baku, the Karabakhis did not act like a defeated party in 2020. They invited sympathetic foreigners—including a French presidential candidate—to visit the region they still referred to by a medieval Armenian name, Artsakh. Azerbaijan alleged that weapons and land mines were being transported along the so-called Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Karabakh to Armenia.

Diplomacy resumed, with the European Union, the United States, and Russia all negotiating between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The competing mediators made progress on bilateral issues, but the Karabakh issue remained unresolved. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed, along with the rest of the world, to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity (including Nagorny Karabakh), but the vital question of the inhabitants’ rights and security remained unresolved.

The Karabakhis’ fate was probably sealed in April, when Azerbaijan established a checkpoint on the  Lachin Corridor. This de facto blockade deepened in the summer, and the situation became desperate for tens of thousands of people remaining in Karabakh (estimates range from 50,000 to 120,000) who began to run out of food and medicine.

There is a geopolitical game here. A small Russian peacekeeping force was established in Karabakh in 2020. Moscow, which has always wavered between and manipulated both sides, had presented itself as the protector of the Karabakhis. President Vladimir Putin publicly told them his peacekeepers would guarantee their safe return from Armenia and continued residence in their homeland. But the Russian soldiers stood by as the checkpoint was set up on the Lachin road earlier this year, fracturing trust held in the peacekeeping force.

The context is that after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Armenian government began to pivot toward the West, and Azerbaijan—with which Russia shares a land border and an authoritarian model of government—looked like a more valuable partner.

Over the summer, the EU and United States were hopeful that a deal had been reached to reopen the Lachin road, as well as a road via the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam, to resupply Karabakh. Senior figures, notably U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Council President Charles Michel, sent messages to Aliyev that the use of force was unacceptable. On September 18, in a hopeful sign, two small humanitarian convoys reached Karabakh down the two roads, after a long pause.

The military offensive on September 19 caught Western officials by surprise, which became more understandable when news broke that Russian peacekeepers simply stood down and let the assault happen. The impression that there had been a side deal between Moscow and Baku deepened when Russian officials blamed Pashinyan and his pro-Western tendencies, not Azerbaijan, for the fighting.

At the United Nations, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called out Azerbaijan, saying, “Baku again assured that it would refrain from using force, but this promise was broken, and it caused enormous suffering to the population in dire straits.” By contrast, the Russian representative to the UN only noted that “the armed confrontation in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated dramatically.”

In the darker European order of the past decade, where normative values and a multilateral framework have been devalued, Azerbaijan cares less about statements of condemnation from Western governments. The key thing is almost certainly the support of two regional powers and neighbors: the full backing of Türkiye and deliberate equivocation from Russia, which looks more concerned about keeping its military base on the ground in Azerbaijan and humiliating the government in Yerevan than in ensuring the rights of local Karabakh Armenians.  

The only international organization on the ground in Karabakh is the International Committee of the Red Cross. Western officials have called for an international humanitarian and monitoring presence on the ground analogous to the missions deployed in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, but Azerbaijan and Russia—which seeks to justify its peacekeeping force—will try to block this.

Barring an unexpected international initiative, the main question may now be whether a mass exodus of Karabakhis to Armenia will happen in an orderly fashion or with bloodshed and detentions of male residents. There are modest signs that the Azerbaijanis will allow the former, but the situation on the ground is messy and volatile—as could only be expected when combatants in a three-decade-long conflict confront one another again, face to face. The repercussions of the third Karabakh war will be long and hard.

https://carnegieeurope.eu/2023/09/22/tragic-endgame-in-karabakh-pub-90620


Russia sees no official signals Armenia planning to withdraw from CSTO — Kremlin

Garo Vardanian
 TASS 
Russia – Sept 11 2023
According to Dmitry Peskov, Russia is not afraid of losing Armenia as its ally, since Moscow and Yerevan are still close

VLADIVOSTOK, September 11. /TASS/. Russia sees no official signals that Armenia wants to withdraw from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russia-led security bloc, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"We have heard a lot of speculation on this topic, including from, let’s say, pro-Western analysts in Armenia. But we have received no official signals on this matter," he told journalists answering a TASS question.

When asked whether Russia would be ready to defend Armenia if it comes under attack, the Kremlin spokesman noted, "If we are talking about Armenia’s territory, you know that we have commitments within the CSTO. You also know that after Armenia recognized Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity within the 1991 borders, the situation there has somewhat changed and this should be taken into account too. This was Yerevan’s decision."

According to Peskov, Russia is not afraid of losing Armenia as its ally, since Moscow and Yerevan are still close. "No, [we are not afraid]. We were, are and I am sure will be close allies and partners with Armenia. We may have certain problems which need to be resolved, but this should be done as part of a dialogue because the dynamics of development and national interests of the two countries call for strengthening our allied relations and partnership," he stressed.

RFE/RL Armenian Service – 09/09/2023

Garo Vardanian 
                                        Saturday, September 9, 2023


New Karabakh Leader Elected


Nagorno-Karabakh - Samvel Shahramanian.


Lawmakers in Nagorno-Karabakh voted to elect the region’s new president on 
Saturday amid heightened tensions along the Karabakh “line of contact” and the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

The election of Samvel Shahramanian, strongly condemned by Azerbaijan, came ten 
days after the resignation of his predecessor Arayik Harutiunian. The latter 
said that Karabakh needs new leadership in order to better cope with a severe 
humanitarian crisis resulting from the Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin 
corridor and other challenges facing the Armenian-populated territory.

Shahramanian was backed by Harutiunian’s Free Fatherland party and three 
opposition groups. The 44-year-old has held various positions in the local 
security apparatus for over two decades. He did not make public statements 
immediately after his election.

The fifth party represented in Karabakh’s 32-seat parliament, United Fatherland, 
boycotted the vote after its leader, Samvel Babayan, was deemed ineligible to 
run for president because of not having lived in Karabakh for the past 10 ten 
years.

Babayan, who had led Karabakh’s armed forces in the 1990s, condemned his 
“illegal” disqualification and urged supporters to rally outside the parliament 
building in Stepanakert during the vote. Only a few hundred people reportedly 
gathered there. Karabakh’s leadership has implicitly accused the once powerful 
general of trying to destabilize the political situation despite the increased 
risk of another Azerbaijani attack.

Unlike the other Karabakh factions, Babayan’s party does not oppose the opening 
of a new, Azerbaijani-controlled supply route for Karabakh which Baku says is a 
precondition for allowing renewed humanitarian supplies through the Lachin 
corridor. Babayan’s detractors accuse him of secretly collaborating with 
Armenia’s government.

The government seemed in no rush to congratulate Shahramanian on his election. 
The new president was swiftly congratulated instead by some Armenian opposition 
parties.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemned Shahramanian’s election as a “blatant 
violation” of international law and Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Karabakh. It 
claimed that Armenia and the “separatist regime” in Stepanakert “have taken the 
path of provocations and escalation of the situation.”




Pashinian Offers ‘Urgent’ Talks With Aliyev


RUSSIA - Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian attend a group photo ceremony during an informal CIS summit in St. 
Petersburg, December 26, 2022.


Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has offered to hold “urgent” talks with 
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to prevent another upsurge in violence in the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

Pashinian made the offer in phone calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, 
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reported by 
his office on Saturday. He phoned them amid rising tensions along the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the Karabakh “line of contact.”

The Armenian government says Azerbaijan has been massing troops there in 
possible preparation for another large-scale military assault. Pashinian on 
Thursday urged the international community to take “very serious measures” to 
thwart Baku’s alleged plans.

“Prime Minister Pashinian expressed readiness to hold urgent discussions with 
the president of Azerbaijan aimed at reducing the tensions,” read a government 
statement on his call with Macron which reportedly took place late on Friday. It 
said he also reaffirmed his recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity 
made during October 2022 and May 2023 meetings with Aliyev attended by Macron.

Pashinian’s office released a virtually identical readout of his separate 
conversation with Scholz and Raisi. It said the French and German leaders 
pledged continued support for “efforts to establish peace and stability in the 
region.” It was not clear whether will try organize a fresh contact with Aliyev 
sought by Pashinian.

On Friday, three senior Azerbaijani officials met with Baku-based foreign 
diplomats to accuse Armenia of stepping up “military provocations,” “imitating” 
peace talks and continuing to foment “separatism” in Karabakh. The Armenian 
Foreign Ministry rejected the accusations as “completely false.”



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.

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU urges unblocking of Lachin corridor

Garo Vardanian
Sept 4 2023

On 1 September, the European Union urged the unblocking of the Lachin corridor, according to a statement by the spokesperson of European Council President Charles Michel regarding Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The statement also notes that the use of the Ağdam road to provide supplies can also be part of a concrete and sustainable solution to the provision of urgent and daily basic needs.

“The current humanitarian situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly; it is imperative to take steps to address the needs of the local population,” says the statement.

The spokesperson reminds that President Michel continues to be actively involved in promoting the process of normalisation of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. His efforts over the past weeks, supported by Toivo Klaar, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, have focused as a priority on addressing the humanitarian situation of Karabakh Armenians.

Charles Michel has proposed a step-by-step approach which would reflect a sequencing in the full-fledged operation of the Lachin corridor and the opening of the Ağdam route.

“Dialogue between Baku and representatives of Armenians living in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast will be essential in this regard. The rights and security of Karabakh Armenians must be guaranteed and discussions on specific modalities should start as soon as possible,” says the EU statement.

Find out more

Press release

https://euneighbourseast.eu/news/latest-news/armenia-azerbaijan-eu-urges-unblocking-of-lachin-corridor/

Human Rights Commission: Nagorno-Karabakh: Update

Garo Vardanian
TOM LANTOS 
Human Rights Commission
United States Congress
Sept 1 2023
Date: 
Wednesday, September 6, 2023 – 1:00pm
Location: 
TBD

Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the ongoing blockade of the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, released his personal Expert Opinion on August 7, stating that “there is a reasonable basis to believe that a Genocide is being committed against Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023” and emphasizing that under the Genocide Conventions all states have a “duty to prevent” genocide. At the hearing Mr. Ocampo will present his Expert Opinion on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. David Phillips will testify on facts relevant to gathering the intent of the government of Azerbaijan, including as available on the web page “Atrocities Artsakh.”

This hearing will be open to Members of Congress, congressional staff, the interested public, and the media. The hearing will be livestreamed via the Commission website and will also be available for viewing on Channel ## of the House Digital Channel service. For any questions, please contact Mark Milosch for Co-Chair Smith or Kimberly Stanton for Co-Chair McGovern.
Christopher H. Smith, M.C.
Co-Chairman, TLHRC
James P. McGovern, M.C.
Co-Chairman, TLHRC

Luis Moreno Ocampo, Former Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (2003-2012)

David L. Phillips, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, and Director of Columbia University’s Artsakh Atrocities Project.

118th Congress

Armenpress: Eurasian Economic Union remains open for new partners, says Russia

Garo Vardanian

 19:06,

TSAGHKADZOR, AUGUST 24, ARMENPRESS. The Eurasian Economic Union remains open for new partners, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at the union’s intergovernmental council meeting in Armenia.

“The Eurasian Economic Union remains open for new partners. We very well realize that in the current conditions, expansion of partnership with other countries and regional unions is especially needed,” Mishustin said.

Expansion of partnership would allow to create a broad network of trade treaties and a common economic area of equal cooperation around the union, he added.

Azerbaijani military opens gunfire at tractor in Nagorno-Karabakh to obstruct harvest

Garo Vardanian

 11:01,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan violated the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire on August 18 in the Martuni region, the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Defense Ministry said Friday.

In a statement, the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry said that the Azeri military opened small arms fire in the direction of a tractor working in the fields of Myurishen village.

“It is obvious that by consistently obstructing agricultural work, Azerbaijan seeks to further deepen the humanitarian disaster in the Republic of Artsakh resulting from the blockade,” the ministry added.

The Azeri military twice targeted Nagorno-Karabakh farmers on August 17 as well.

Turkish Press: Azerbaijan rejects French allegations over Lachin road

Garo Vardanian
DAILY SABAH
Turkey – Aug 16 2023

The French Foreign Ministry is under fire after it accused Azerbaijan of a "blockade" of the Lachin road, the only land route giving Armenia access to Karabakh. Azerbaijan on Wednesday rejected the allegations.

"We once again remind that it is absurd to portray as a ‘blockade’ the activity of the Lachin border checkpoint established in accordance with Azerbaijan’s obligation to guarantee the safety of citizens, vehicles and cargo on the Lachin road, as well as to prevent the misuse of the Lachin road by Armenia for military and illegal economic purposes,” a statement from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said. Armenia claims the Lachin road is blockaded by Azerbaijan, a claim Baku denies.

In a statement on Tuesday following a phone conversation with the Armenian foreign minister, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna deplored the "blockade" of the road. She stressed that Azerbaijan must comply with its international obligations, in particular, "the provisional measures indicated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its order of February 22, which are binding." Reacting to Paris, Azerbaijan regretted that France does not support Azerbaijan’s proposals to establish alternative routes into Karabakh, such as the Aghdam-Khankendi road, which it said is supported by the EU and the Red Cross.

At the same time, the French side did not react to the violation of the agreement by Armenia, which is using alternative roads to further aggravate the tension in the region, Baku said. It also said that the French side "did not pay attention" to the unanimous rejection of Armenia’s request to remove the checkpoint by the ICJ on July 6. Despite ongoing talks over a long-term peace agreement, tensions between the neighboring countries rose in recent months over the Lachin road, where Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint in April on the grounds of preventing the illegal transport of military arms and equipment to the region.

The two former Soviet republics have been archrivals since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions. It culminated in 44 days of war in 2020, when Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements from Armenian occupation. The war ended with a Russia-brokered peace agreement.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Azerbaijan said it detained a member of a sabotage group of the Armenian military as they attempted to infiltrate the country’s Kalbajar district in East Zangezur. "On Aug. 16, around 11:15 a.m. (7:15 a.m. GMT), the intelligence-sabotage group of the Armenian armed forces tried to infiltrate the territory of Azerbaijan using the gaps between the combat positions located in the direction of the settlement of Istisu, the Kalbajar district, in order to carry out terrorist-sabotage operations,” a statement by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said. The attempt of the Armenian military was prevented "as a result of the vigilance of our units,” the statement said, adding that a member of the sabotage group was detained by military personnel. The detained person was injured and other members of the sabotage group were forced to retreat, it also said. "Information about the detained member of the group is currently being clarified. Additional information will be provided to the public,” the statement concluded.