Author: Hovik Karapetian

Turkish press: Turkey, Azerbaijan launch military dialogue in Baku

Hovik Karapetian
 İSTANBUL DIPLOMACY 
JUN 03, 2021 12:49 PM GMT+3
Turkish and Azerbaijani fighter jets take part in a military drill in central Turkey's Konya province, May 31, 2021. (AA Photo)

Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry announced Thursday that the 13th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Turkey High-Level Military Dialogue kicked off in Azerbaijan's capital Baku.

The two delegations are headed by Azerbaijan's Deputy Minister of Defense Lt. Gen. Kerim Veliyev and Deputy Chief of Turkish General Staff Gen. Selcuk Bayraktaroğlu, the ministry said.

The meeting's agenda is focused on bilateral cooperation in security, military, military-technical, military-medical, military-educational, defense industry, and other fields.

Earlier this year, Turkey and Azerbaijan carried out the Winter 2021 Drill, featuring domestically developed weaponry and equipment.

The drill mostly focused on operational capabilities during the harsh weather conditions in winter months, including practicing sheltering, reinforcement, maintenance and educational development. Ground and air assaults, airdrops, airborne operations and logistic support were practiced by both militaries.

Ankara and Baku, with the participation of the countries’ air and ground forces, launched joint military drills last year in the wake of Armenian attacks on Azerbaijani border points.

Turkey threw its support behind Azerbaijan, whose Nagorno-Karabakh region had remained under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades before finally being liberated last November.

Drones flying over Vardenis town right now – Arsen Babayan

Hovik Karapetian
Panorama, Armenia
June 4 2021

19:26 04/06/2021Armenia

Drones are flying over Armenia's Vardenis town right now, member of Homeland party Arsen Babayan reports, posting a video  on his facebook page from the scene. 

"This is at the time when the head of our authorities who has instructed not to shoot down, continues his electoral campaign. We will remove this Turkish leadership from Armenia on June 20," Babayan wrote.

Armenia reports 34 daily coronavirus cases

Hovik Karapetian

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 11:08,

YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS. 34 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Armenia in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 222,670, the ministry of healthcare reports.

227 patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 213,208.

The death toll has risen to 4438 (6 death cases have been registered in the past one day).

2655 COVID-19 tests were conducted on May 30.

The number of active cases is 3942.

The number of people who had coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 1082 (1 new such case).

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Azerbaijani press: US to use Azerbaijan’s experience in creation of cyber warfare support battalion

Hovik Karapetian
17:35 (UTC+04:00)
571

By Trend

The US will use the experience that Azerbaijan used during the Second Karabakh War in the creation of the first battalion for the support of cyberwarfare, Chief of the Cyber Command of the US Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Stephen Fogarty said, Trend reports citing the US Breaking Defense news agency.

As Fogarty noted, in the summer of 2021, the US is going to release the first cyber command and try it out. The experience of Azerbaijan used during the Second Karabakh War will be one of the innovations applied to the new cyber command.

“I did not agree with the widespread opinion that Azerbaijan defeated Armenia primarily with the help of drones,” Fogarty emphasized.

“Eventually, before Azerbaijani unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were able to attack Armenian goals, they first needed to find them. They needed to blind or disconnect them with electronics. And first of all, they needed commanders who collected extensive information and quickly decided to strike a strike – before the goal would move and will be lost,” the lieutenant general noted.

“UAVs, of course, were important, but the information aspects have been critical. The main aspect was the ability to combine information on all five regions and make a decision,” the US official added.

Armenian Defense Ministry denies reports of Azeri shootings in Sisian border area

Hovik Karapetian
Panorama, Armenia

The Armenian Defense Ministry refutes reports of Azerbaijani shootings in the Sisian border area in Syunik Province of Armenia.

“The reports about the enemy shootings in the Sisian section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the injuries from the Armenian side as a result of them have not been confirmed.

“No incidents were recorded in that part of the border,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Earlier some media reports alleged that the Azerbaijani troops opened fire in the Sisian border area, injuring  some Armenian soldiers. 

Azerbaijan authorities must not be allowed to muddle us with fake peace process, Armenia’s Ombudsman says

Hovik Karapetian
Public Radio of Armenia
Azerbaijan authorities must not be allowed to muddle us with fake peace process, Armenia’s Ombudsman says – Public Radio of Armenia

Peace is the highest value for us but we must not allow Azerbaijani authorities to muddle us with fake peace process, Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan said in a statement.

The statement reads:

1) The highest authorities of Azerbaijani not only did not stop, but also deepened the policy of Armenophobia and fascist enmity towards the entire population of Armenia, and the entire Armenian people. This is about genocidal policy.

He emphasized that the delimitation by itself, without creation of a security zone will not ensure the rights of citizens of Armenia and especially border residents and will cause new violations and tensions, as long as these conditions exist.

2) Based on the same principle, the President of Azerbaijan constantly speaks in the language of threats about our country and the entire population. He is proud to have a generation grown up with feelings of hatred and animosity.

3) The Azerbaijani authorities deliberately continue to cause mental suffering to the families of the Armenian captives and missing persons, and violate the rights of the captives by not publishing the real numbers and not returning them to their homeland.

4) The real danger of recurrence of Azerbaijani atrocities during the war against Armenian civilians and servicemen has not been eliminated, while no one has been held responsible for what occurred.

5) The Azerbaijani armed servicemen are present illegally in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia in the Gegharkunik and Syunik regions disturbing the peace of mind of the Armenian society.

6) In the vicinity of the villages of the Gegharkunik and Syunik regions, the Azerbaijani armed servicemen continue to grossly violate the rights of the border residents of Armenia (threatening Armenian citizens (including shepherds) by displaying their weapons to them, people are deprived of access to their lands, pastures, periodic shootings near the border villages of Armenia, etc.).

7) Gross violations of rights and provocations are recorded on the roads of between the communities of the Syunik region (pelting an Armenian civilian car with stones on the road from Goris to Kapan, dragging the shepherd of Aravus and punching him in the eye, blocking the road from Kapan to Chakaten village with an Azerbaijani car, refusing the return of the animals of the border residents of Armenia which have crossed over to lands under Azerbaijani control, and other incidents.) The placement of Azerbaijani armed servicemen, flags and signs on those roads continuously violate the rights of the Armenians citizens (psychological tensions, and intention to terrorize, restriction of the free movement of people, etc.).

Special note: In general, the demarcation process of borders is of fundamental importance for any country. It is also a guarantee for the protection of human rights.

However, the delimitation process may last for years, if not decades, and as long as the conditions listed by me do not exist, the urgency of real guaranteeing of the rights of the border residents of Armenia, and the Armenian citizens, requires the creation of a security zone around the Gegharkunik and Syunik regions, along all the sections of the border with Azerbaijan.

Therefore, the delimitation can be implemented only after the creation of the security zone, or at least, in parallel to its creation.

To restore the disrupted normal life of the Armenian citizens, and above all, that of the border residents, Azerbaijani armed servicemen, flags, and signs should be removed from the vicinity of the villages, and from the roads between the communities of Armenia.

Otherwise, the delimitation process in itself, will be accompanied by new violations of the rights of the citizens of the Armenia, and especially the border residents, and the increase of the tensions in the society.

This will not secure peace in the region!

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan to stage "vote-buying"

Hovik Karapetian
News.am, Armenia
09:49, 22.05.2021

YEREVAN. – Past daily of Armenia writes: According to Past newspaper’s information, [acting PM] Nikol Pashinyan has instructed the law enforcement system to "discover" several dozen people in the coming days, who allegedly distributed money, particularly in favor of [second President] Robert Kocharyan.
According to our information, they have also prepared people who have been obligated to testify as if they had received money to vote for the "Armenia" bloc[, led by Kocharyan, in the snap parliamentary elections on June 20]. (…).
According to the information we received, this is a well-thought-out scenario which should help Nikol Pashinyan to build speeches during the [election] campaign and to gain some votes by smearing the political opponent.
The thing is that those at the headquarters of the [ruling] Civil Contract [Party] have discussed the main "points" of the [election] campaign, and realized that there is no topic on which they will be able to present themselves to the public in an honest way.
In order not to fail the [election] campaign like the pledges [they had made], they have preferred to smear the practice, engaging the law enforcement in this work as well.
And the main target will be the "Armenia" bloc and Kocharyan.

Armenia failed to learn lessons, nearing next ‘tragic point’, expert says

Hovik Karapetian
Panorama, Armenia

Armenia has failed to learn lessons from last year’s war in Artsakh and is nearing a “tragic point”, according to military expert Tigran Abrahamyan, the head of the analytical center Henaket.

"The biggest problem for us is that the border in Syunik had gone unprotected, allowing Azerbaijanis to enter our territory without obstacles. In other words, our primary problem is the conduct of the military-political leadership,” Abrahamyan told a news conference on Tuesday.

According to him, the “criminal inaction of the authorities” has pushed Armenia into applying to Russia, the CSTO or a number of European countries.

"We should clearly realize that what is happening today in the direction of Gegharkunik and Syunik Provinces continue to be linked with the southern parts of Syunik and Artsakh. In other words, the act of aggression here, the ongoing negotiations with all their components are connected with the developments around Artsakh and Syunik,” he said.

Abrahamyan claimed Azerbaijan is now trying to resolve several problems for itself. First of all, it seeks to get new levers of pressure against Armenia, to make use of the inaction of the current Armenian authorities and to get the most out of the process.

"We must understand that what we are witnessing is very important for us in terms of the existence of the homeland, while for the current government that idea does not exist at all. You see, the government members state that the army protects the people, not the deserted areas, and there were no military positions in those areas, no fighting took place there, because there were no servicemen," he said.

According to Abrahamyan, the statement that a large part of the border was unprotected in the post-war period amounts to a crime report.

"After the November 9 statement, we lost 75% of Artsakh, nearly 5,000 of our compatriots were killed, but Armenia has not learned lessons even today and is nearing the next tragic point. Those who have been to Syunik in the recent 6-7 months and have seen which part of the highway the Azeri forces are deployed, have a better understanding of the situation. Unfortunately, a large part of our society does not realize what a tragic point we have reached. This is not just a problem facing our homeland, there is also a regional problem here involving Iran, Azerbaijan and others," he said.

Azerbaijan-Armenia tensions rise again

Hovik Karapetian
Yahoo! News – Source: AAP, Australia
, 2:38 pm

Azerbaijan has launched an extensive military exercise amid mounting tensions with neighbouring Armenia.

Up to 15,000 soldiers as well as 300 tanks and other military vehicles are involved in the exercises which will last several days, the defence ministry announced on Sunday.

The military will also deploy 400 different missile and artillery systems, the ministry said while rejecting as "completely unfounded" accusations made by Armenia over border violations.

Armenia earlier said that Azerbaijani troops had occupied high ground in the southern region of Syunik, which Armenia considers its own territory, calling the move an "absolutely unacceptable interference" on sovereign territories of the country.

Azerbaijan said the troops were to secure the border with its western neighbour in the high mountain area after an "improvement in weather conditions".

On the weekend, Armenia threatened to react with "measures" if the Azerbaijani troops did not withdraw.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell called on both sides to hold back and to de-escalate the situation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called on both countries to adhere to the ceasefire agreed in November.

In the most recent fighting in the South Caucasus that lasted from September 27 to November 9, Azerbaijan reclaimed large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory it had lost in the early 1990s.

More than 6000 people died in the clashes.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/azerbaijan-armenia-tensions-rise-again-113853992.html

Armenia’s caretaker FM, CSTO Secretary General discuss solution of border situation

Hovik Karapetian

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 15:19,

YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s caretaker foreign minister Ara Aivazian held a telephone conversation today with CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas, the Armenian foreign ministry told Armenpress.

The officials continued discussing the current situation on Armenia’s state border and the actions aimed at solving it.

Ara Aivazian told the CSTO chief that letters on behalf of the Armenian caretaker prime minister have been sent to the President of Tajikistan, who chairs the CSTO Collective Security Council, as well as to the members of this Council, requesting to start consultations as envisaged by Article 2 of the Collective Security Treaty.

The Armenian caretaker FM and the CSTO Secretary General also exchanged views on the future processes envisaged by the respective procedures.

On May 12 in the morning the Azerbaijani armed forces crossed Armenia’s state border in the territory of Sev Lake in Syunik province and advanced up to 3,5 kilometers, trying to surround the Lake. The Azerbaijani forces also advanced in some sections of the border in Gegharkunik province.

So far, neither the Armenian nor the Azerbaijani sides have used any weapon. The number of Azerbaijani soldiers in the territory of Armenia is about 250.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan