Author: Jirair Kafian

Azeri leader says he will fight ‘to the end’ if Karabakh talks fail

Jirair Kafian
Yahoo! News
Nov 1 2020
Nailia Bagirova and Nvard Hovhannisyan

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Reuters•November 1, 2020


BAKU/YEREVAN (Reuters) – Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday his troops would "go to the end" should negotiations fail to result in an agreement by ethnic Armenian forces to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Aliyev, speaking during a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in the Azeri capital Baku, also said Armenia had "no basis" to request Russian military assistance in the conflict.

Further shelling was reported by Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces in and around Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday. The death toll in the region's worst fighting in more than 25 years has already surpassed 1,000 and is possibly much higher.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but is populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians.

The conflict has brought into sharp focus the increased influence of Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, in a former Soviet region considered by Russia to be within its sphere of influence. Russia also has a security alliance with Armenia.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has asked Russia to outline the extent of the support it could expect from Moscow.

In response, Russia's foreign ministry said on Saturday it would provide "all assistance required" should the conflict spill onto "the territory of Armenia" – land that is outside the current conflict zone.

Aliyev, quoted by state news agency Azertag, said he wanted to resolve the conflict through negotiations that would result in the withdrawal of ethnic Armenian forces.

"Otherwise," he said, "we will continue by any means to restore our territorial integrity and … we will go to the end."

Azerbaijan's advances on the battlefield since fighting began on Sept. 27 have reduced its incentive to strike a lasting peace deal and complicated international efforts to broker a truce. Three ceasefires have failed to hold.

The ethnic Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh military said that missiles been targeted at the town of Martuni, the village of Karin Tak and the city of Shushi, just 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the enclave's largest city, Stepanakert.

Armenia's defence ministry said a second militant from Syria had been captured on the battlefield. Azerbaijan has previously denied the presence of foreign fighters.

Azerbaijan's defence ministry said its army units in Tovuz, Gadabay and Gubadli had come under shelling overnight. Combat on Sunday was concentrated in Aghdere, Aghdam, Gubadli and Khojavend – the Azeri name for Martuni.

Nagorno-Karabakh's army says 1,166 of its soldiers have been killed since Sept. 27 and the office of Nagorno-Karabakh's human rights ombudsman said the civilian death toll was 45.

Azerbaijan, which does not disclose its military casualties, says 91 civilians have been killed. Russia has estimated as many as 5,000 deaths on both sides.

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova in Baku and Nvard Hovhannisyan in Yerevan; Additional reporting by Olzhas Auyezov in Baku and Tom Balmforth in Moscow; Writing by Robin Paxton; editing by David Evans)

Iran Reportedly Continues Moving Armed Forces to Nagorno-Karabakh Border

Jirair Kafian
Sputnik
Oct 28 2020
 
 
 
© AFP 2020 / ISNA / HOSSEIN HOSSEINZADEH
WORLD
 
TEHRAN (Sputnik) – The Iranian armed forces have continued stepping up their presence in the country's northern areas adjacent to the conflict zone in Nagorno-Karabakh, the IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing military sources.
 
According to the report, the 321st unit of the Iranian ground forces has been deployed to the northeastern border, which is shared with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
 
Iran has repeatedly complained about munitions from the conflict zone crossing into its own territory and warned the warring parties it would respond accordingly if they continue to undermine the Islamic Republic's security. Several detachments of Iranian air defence forces and ground forces had been pulled to the northeastern borderline in the period of 23-25 October.
 
At the same time, Tehran has called upon the warring parties to stop fighting and engage in peace talks. On 27 October, the Iranian president's special envoy Abbas Araghchi began a regional tour in a bid to promote Tehran's own plan of political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Araghchi is now in Azerbaijan, from where he is expected to travel to Armenia, as well as Russia and Turkey.
 
Last week, Iran began stepping up its military presence in its borderline areas close to Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated enclave inside Azerbaijan which exercises de facto independence.
 
The armed hostilities between the Azerbaijani and Armenian forces have been continuing since 27 September, with Armenia and Azerbaijan accusing each other of starting the military action. The international community has strongly condemned the escalation and called on parties to settle the differences via dialogue. However, Turkey has pledged its full support for Azerbaijan.
 
The parties have since agreed to three humanitarian ceasefires but all were broken mere hours after coming into force. The warring sides have continued to accuse each other of provocations and attacks on civilian settlements. The tensions began when the region broke off from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic in 1988.
 
 

Russia continues active mediation efforts for stopping bloodshed in NK conflict zone – Zakharova

Jirair Kafian

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 17:55,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Official representative of the Foreign Ministry of Russia Maria Zakharova announced that Russia continues its active mediation efforts for stopping bloodshed in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, ARMENPRESS reports Zakharova announced in a briefing October 22.

‘’We continue active mediation efforts for stopping bloodshed in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. The issue of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement was particularly discussed on October 20 and 21 in Moscow, during the separate meetings of Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov with Armenian FM Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Azerbaijani FM Jeyhun Bayramov. Like in the past, we work in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs’’.

EU urges to strictly respect ceasefire agreement

Jirair Kafian

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 23:12,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. The EU urges to strictly respect the humanitarian ceasefire agreement reached during the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on October 9.

‘’ The EU welcomes the agreement reached on 10 October on a humanitarian ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The EU urges the sides to strictly abide by this agreement and calls on all actors, including external parties, to refrain from any actions that may lead to further casualties. In this respect, we note with extreme concern the reports of continued military activities, including against civilian targets, as well as civilian casualties and urge the sides to ensure full respect of the agreement on the ground.

The EU calls upon the sides to engage in substantive negotiations without delay under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, without preconditions and on the basis of the agreed upon principles.

The EU continues to support the work of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in seeking a negotiated political solution to the conflict and will remain engaged in efforts towards lasting peace in the region’’, ARMENPRESS reports reads the Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union.

On October 9 a ceasefire agreement was reached between the Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs mediated by Russian FM. Aetsakh has voiced about numerous cases of the ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan since the agreement entered into force, including launching missile strikes against cities and settlements of Artsakh.

On October 11 Azerbaijani armed forces made offensive attempts in the north-eastern and southern directions.

5 civilians in Artsakh were killed by Azerbaijani forces after the declaration of the ceasefire and 20 were killed before.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

Azerbaijan’s brazen speculation – denial of the attack against Ghazanchetsots Cathedral vs. facts

Jirair Kafian

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 19:52, 8 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral  of Shushi town of Artsakh appeared under Azerbaijani strikes twice on October 8. Following the 1st strike, when the Azerbaijani military leadership understood that its crime against civilization will receive an international reaction, hurried to deny any links with it. But hours later the strikes again took place, unfortunately injuring international journalists, who were there to cover that unexplainable hate crime.

The Azerbaijani side is trying to mislead the international community, saying that they have not bombed Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral.

Of course, lies, fake news and overt manipulations of the Azerbaijani officials do not surprise anyone in the recent period.

It’s important for us to expose this lie, since it’s a crime against civilization.

Facts:

  1. Azerbaijan carried out strikes against Ghazanchetsots Cathedral of Shushi and the published materials prove it.

  1. Following the strikes the Azerbaijani defense ministry announces that it has not targeted Ghazanchetsots Cathedral , but again strikes it minutes after the announcement.

A number of journalists were injured as a result of the Azerbaijani strikes against the Cathedral. One of them, a Russian reporter, is in critical situation and is undergoing surgery.

 

Reactions:  

  1. Primate of the Artsakh Diocese, His Holiness Pargev. ‘’They are striking our spiritual values, despite the fact that we renovate Mosques. This is the handwriting of the ‘’Islamic State’’.
  2. Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. ‘’Condemning the act and assessing it as an act of extreme religious intolerance, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin addresses the Pastors of churches, the international community and organizations, inter-church and inter-religious organizations to raise a decisive voice for the sake of stopping the bloodshed, protection of the right of the people of Artsakh to free and independent life and unconditional preservation of ancient religious-cultural heritage’’.
  3. Syrian-Russian journalist Abbas Juma. ‘’It’s an extremely important church for all Armenians. Of course, I greatly regret that this conflict starts to acquire religious nature. Azerbaijanis gave it a religious nature long ago and I can see it from the rhetoric in the social media. Many in Azerbaijan perceive it as a fight for the sake of Islam’’.

 

Azerbaijan’s brazen speculation

The first announcement of the Azerbaijani side attempted to insinuate that probably it was the Armenian armed forces that struck the Cathedral. Without trying to understand the ridicule of the announcement, let’s see some facts.

Capital of Artsakh Stepanakert was being heavily bombed from Shushi in 1992. The Azerbaijanis kept their ammunition in Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral .

Bellow is the footage of the 1st Lord's Prayer at Ghazanchetsots Cathedral following the liberation of Shushi.

The boxes full of ammunition can be seen in the footage. Their kept the ammunition in the Cathedral because they knew that Armenians would never strike their own church and that’s why this wwas the safest place for them.

Hero of Artsakh, Commander of Shushi liberation operation Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan famous as Kamandos assessed the October 8 strike of Azerbaijani army as an act of a beast, atrocity.

‘’ Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral  of Shushi is the symbol of Shushi, it’s our belief. When we were kept under fire from Shushi in 1990s, we were looking at that town with great love. What the adversary is doing, is an act of a beast. When peace come, we will again restore it’’, Komandos said.

 

About the Cathedral

Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral  of Shushi is an exclusive historical, cultural and spiritual heritage for South Caucasus.

This Church is the center of Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It was built in 1868-1887. After Gandzasar, it’s Artsakh’s second most important spiritual center.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

Azerbaijani media & government repeatedly caught making fake news about war against Armenia

Jirair Kafian
Greek City Times
Oct 7 2020
by Paul Antonopoulos

The Azerbaijani government and media have repeatedly been caught making fake news about progress in its invasion of the Armenian-majority region of Artsakh.

Although Turks and Azeris are linguistic and cultural kin, often saying that they constitute “one nation in two states,” it appears that this shared affinity also extends into their authoritarian and dictatorial style of governance with a heavy-handed control of the media.

Turkey is one of the lowest ranked countries for media freedoms in the world, is the second most susceptible country surveyed on the European continent to fake news, has the most journalists jailed in the whole world, and 90% of media is government controlled.

However, topping Turkey, Azerbaijan has an even lower media freedom ranking then, Turkey, placing 168 out of 180 countries, and this has only becoming increasingly evident with the spread of fake news during its invasion attempt of Artsakh.

There are many examples to highlight, but we will point out two of the most glaring obvious.

Azerbaijani media released footage where an Azerbaijani cannot decide whether he is a soldier speaking to an alleged Armenian woman that is being treated courteously by the Azerbaijani army, or a journalist hiding in fear from Armenian bombardment.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78870" src=”"//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35.webp" alt="Azerbaijani media & government repeatedly caught making fake news about war against Armenia 2" width="673" height="755" srcset="//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35.webp 673w,//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35-267×300.jpg 267w,//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35-450×505.jpg 450w,//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35-225×252.jpg 225w,//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35-20×22.jpg 20w" sizes="(max-width: 673px) 100vw, 673px" title="Azerbaijani media & government repeatedly caught making fake news about war against Armenia 2">

The Armenian Defense Ministry notes that the Azerbaijani propaganda machine is so poor that it is incapable of even finding different actors for different roles, Armen Press reported.

Ադրբեջանական քարոզչամեքենայի ողորմելի կեղծիքը

Ադրբեջանական քարոզչամեքենայի ողորմելի կեղծիքըՏեսանյութը ԶԻՆՈՒԺ MEDIA –ի

Posted by Armenpress on Wednesday, 7 October 2020

In fact, the fake news was so obvious that Armenian social media users started mocking the Azerbaijani reporter/soldier/actor.

On October 4, Hikmet Hajiyev, the Assistant of the Azerbaijani Dictator, Ilhem Aliyev, and Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Aliyev’s Administration, was blatantly caught out lying on Twitter.

“Proof of Armenia’s delibarate and targeted attack against critical civilian infrastructure of Azerbaijan. Missile landed in close proximity of energy block in Mingachevir. But did not explode. Peace enforcement must continue to bring Armenia to its senses and responsibility,” he said on Twitter.

One Twitter user asked Mike Mihajlovic, an engineer, defense technologies specialist, and former army officer, to analyze the claims made by Hajiyev.

Mihajlovic highlighted “Fake impact. Staged for the photo ops:

Facts:
– no debris around impact;
– asphalt drilled, not broken during the “high velocity” impact;
– piece of wood to support the missile;
rocket motor without combustion marks;
– brand new looking sign above the door.”

He then highlighted “At a first glance, the ‘impact”‘ angle is [approximately] 55 [degrees]. Unguided rocket flight trajectory is different than for artillery shells because it is propelled flight.”

He then highlighted that weapon that the Armenians allegedly used does not even have the range to reach where it landed even if shot at from the closest point in Armenia.




Armenian, Azerbaijani forces engage in six-hour non-stop clash on Saturday

Jirair Kafian
TASS, Russia
Oct 3 2020
The army of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has brought down a helicopter of Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces

YEREVAN, October 3. /TASS/. On Saturday, Armenian and Azerbaijani forces engaged in a non-stop battle that lasted six or seven hours, Armenian Defense Ministry’s official spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan told reporters.

"Armenian servicemen engaged in a non-stop battle against the armed forces of Azerbaijan, which lasted for six or seven hours," Hovhannisyan said.

According to the spokesman, Azerbaijani forces sustained serious losses in the course of the clash. In the past day, Armenian troops struck 49 Azerbaijani armored vehicles, ten drones, three planes and one helicopter. Besides, three of its Smerch multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) were disabled.

The army of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has brought down a helicopter of Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces, Armenian Defense Ministry Press Secretary Shushan Stepanyan said.

"About 15.50 [local time] the air defenses of Artsakh’s army of defense (the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh – TASS) shot down one helicopter of the adversary in the southern direction," she wrote on Facebook.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs – Russia, France and the United States.



Downed Azeri warplanes include two SU-25s, one “newer generation jet”

Jirair Kafian

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 16:28, 1 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS.  Two of the three Azeri warplanes that were shot down by Artsakh on October 1 were SU-25s, while the other one was a newer generation aircraft, a military expert said.

Information about the third downed jet will be updated.

The Azeri air force has lost a total of 4 warplanes since they launched the offensive against Artsakh on September 27.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan