Author: Kanayan Tamar

                                        Saturday, 

Armenia, Azerbaijan Reach New Ceasefire Deal


NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A burnt car is seen outside a hospital, which, according to 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, was damaged 
during recent shelling in Martakert, Ocober 15, 2020

Armenia and Azerbaijan have reached a new agreement to halt hostilities in the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the Armenian Foreign Ministry announced late on 
Saturday.

In a short statement, the ministry said the “humanitarian ceasefire” will take 
effect at midnight. It gave no other details.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry confirmed the information, reported the Russian 
news agency RIA Novosti.

French President Emmanuel Macron swiftly welcomed the announcement.

“This ceasefire must be unconditional and strictly observed by both parties. 
France will be very attentive to this and will remain committed so that 
hostilities cease permanently and that credible discussions can quickly begin,” 
Macron’s office said in a statement cited by Reuters.

The conflicting parties already reached such an agreement on October 10 during 
talks in Moscow mediated by Russia. Fighting along the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
“line of contact” did not stop, however, with each side accusing the other of 
not respecting the deal.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry announced the new agreement shortly after Russian 
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov again spoke with his Armenian and Azerbaijani 
counterparts in separate phone calls.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov “stressed the need to strictly 
observe” the agreement brokered by Moscow. He also emphasized the importance of 
Baku’s and Yerevan’s October 10 pledge to start “substantive negotiations” on a 
Karabakh settlement that has long been favored by Russia, the United States and 
France.

Earlier this week Lavrov urged the conflicting parties to work out “ceasefire 
verification mechanism” that would involve the deployment of “military 
observers” to the conflict zone. Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian 
backed the idea.

A senior aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Friday that Baku 
does not consider the presence of such observers necessary “right now.”



Armenia To Ban Imports From Turkey

        • Robert Zargarian

Armenia - Deputy Prime Minister or Armenia Mher Grigorian.

The Armenian government has announced plans to ban the import of all Turkish 
goods in response to Turkey’s military support for Azerbaijan in the ongoing war 
in Nagorno-Karabakh.

A relevant draft decision publicized by the government on Friday cites Ankara’s 
“inflammatory calls,” arms supplies to Baku and “deployment of terrorist 
mercenaries to the conflict zone.” It says the measure is meant to not only hurt 
Turkey financially but also neutralize “various kinds of dangers” relating to 
imports of goods from the “hostile country.”

The ban, if formally approved by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet, will 
come into effect on December 31 and remain in force for six months. Government 
officials do not exclude that it will be extended.

According to government data cited by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian, 
Armenia imported $268 million worth of Turkish-manufactured products last year. 
That includes about $70 million worth of clothing and machinery and other 
equipment worth $35 million.

Grigorian acknowledged on Saturday that the ban could have some “negative” 
impact on the Armenian economy.

“But in this case the cost of [existing] risks is much higher than the possible 
negative impact,” Grigorian told reporters. “And I’m sure that the negative 
impact will be temporary and the market will quickly adapt to the new situation.”

Grigorian said Armenian businesspeople will not have trouble importing the same 
types of goods from other countries or manufacturing them in Armenia. The 
government plans to subsidize loans designed for such import substitution, he 
said.

Traders selling goods at a retail market in Yerevan largely welcomed the 
government plans.

“We have lots of alternatives,” one of them told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “We 
also bring stuff from China and Moscow. We must also spur local manufacturing.”

Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and kept the 
border between the two states closed since the early 1990s out of solidarity 
with Azerbaijan. It has also banned all imports from Armenia.



Canadian Embargo Hailed By Armenia, Criticized By Turkey


ARMENIA -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian talks with Canadian Prime 
Minister Justin Trudeau during a farewell ceremony in Yerevan, Armenia October 
13, 2018

Armenia has praised Canada for suspending the export to Turkey of some drone 
technology reportedly used by Azerbaijan in the ongoing war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced the temporary 
ban on October 5 just over a week after the outbreak of the worst hostilities in 
the Karabakh conflict zone since the early 1990s.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry responded by accusing the Canadian government of 
showing a double standard.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the ban with Canadian Prime 
Minister Justin Trudeau in a phone call late on Friday. He reportedly told 
Trudeau that it is “against the spirit of alliance.”

Turkey and Canada are both members of NATO.

Trudeau also called his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinian. A statement by 
Pashinian’s office said the latter “thanked Canada for suspending the export of 
military goods to Turkey.”

Pashinian denounced Turkey’s “destructive involvement in hostilities and the 
unacceptable aspiration to impose its influence in the South Caucasus,” said the 
statement.

Yerevan says that Ankara has also deployed Turkish military personnel and Syrian 
mercenaries to Azerbaijan and is blocking international efforts to stop the 
fighting. Ankara and Baku deny that.

Canadian arms control group Project Ploughshares says video of air strikes 
carried out by Azerbaijani army drones indicates that they are equipped with 
imaging and targeting systems made by L3Harris Wescam, the Canada-based firm.

The Globe and Mail daily reported earlier this month that L3Harris Wescam 
received permission this year to ship seven systems to Turkish drone maker 
Baykar.

According to exports data cited by the Reuters news agency, Turkey’s military 
exports to its ally Azerbaijan have risen six-fold this year, with sales of 
drones and other military equipment rising to $77 million last month alone.



Yerevan Reports More Russian Efforts To Halt Karabakh War

        • Artak Hambardzumian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Lccal people look the remains of a rocket shell on a street 
after recent shelling in Stepanakert, October 15, 2020

Armenia said on Saturday Russia that has tried unsuccessfully to organize a 
meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani military officials in another attempt to 
stop hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, representatives 
of the Armenian Defense Ministry accepted the Russian invitation and flew to 
Moscow this week, but the meeting did not take place because their Azerbaijani 
counterparts did not show up.

The official, Mane Gevorgian, said this is further proof that Azerbaijan is 
unwilling to respect a Russian-mediated ceasefire agreement that was reached by 
the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers on October 10. Speaking to 
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, Gevorgian suggested that the Russian initiative was 
scuttled by Turkey.

Russian officials have made no public statements on Moscow’s alleged attempt to 
organize such a meeting in Moscow. Baku did not immediately comment on 
Gevorgian’s claim.

Russia as well as the United States and France have urged the conflicting 
parties to honor the ceasefire agreement. Moscow is also pressing the parties to 
work out “ceasefire verification mechanism” that would involve the deployment of 
“military observers” to the conflict zone.

A senior aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Friday that Baku 
does not consider the presence of such observers necessary “right now.”

Hostilities in and around Karabakh are continuing, with the Azerbaijani forces 
again shelling the Karabakh capital Stepanakert late on Friday and the following 
night. Three local residents were reportedly wounded as a result.


AZERBAIJAN -- A man shows remnants of a missile after allegedly Armenian 
shelling in the village of Baharli in the Agdam region, 15 October 2020.

For its part, Azerbaijan reported early on Saturday a fresh Armenian missile 
strike on Azerbaijan’s second largest city of Gyanja which it said left 13 local 
civilians dead. Aliyev condemned the strike as a war crime.

Karabakh’s Armenian-backed back responded by releasing a list of Azerbaijani 
military bases and other facilities located in Gyanja. It described them as 
“legitimate targets.”

Also, the Armenian authorities said that Azerbaijani army drones attacked 
military and civilian targets in Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province on 
Friday night. The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan said Baku keeps trying to “expand 
the geography of the conflict.”


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

 

                                        Friday, 

Turkey Declared Party To Karabakh Conflict

        • Tatevik Sargsian

TURKEY -- Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar speaks to a group of reporters in 
Ankara, May 21, 2019

Turkey’s strong support for Azerbaijan makes it a party to the Nagorno-Karabakh 
conflict, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday.

“Turkey is also a party to the conflict, standing with a brotherly state and 
defending its rights,” Akar told the Turkish Anatolia news agency.

Successive Turkish governments have unconditionally backed Azerbaijan in the 
conflict, reflecting close cultural and ethnic ties between the two Turkic 
nations. They have refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and 
kept the Turkish-Armenian border closed. They have has also provided military 
assistance to Azerbaijan.

Ankara voiced support for Baku in unusually strong terms during and after last 
month’s deadly clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The Armenian 
government decried the Turkish reaction, accusing Ankara of trying to 
destabilize the region, undercutting international efforts to resolve the 
conflict and posing a serious security threat to Armenia.

Akar again blamed Yerevan for the flare-up of violence which left at least 17 
soldiers from both sides dead. “Armenia does not act reasonably by relying on 
forces standing behind it and punching above its weight,” he said, apparently 
alluding to Russia, the South Caucasus state’s main ally.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged 
Ankara to exercise restraint in its reaction to the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
hostilities when they spoke with their Turkish counterparts by phone in late 
July.

A few days later the Turkish and Azerbaijani militaries began joint exercises in 
various parts of Azerbaijan which lasted for two weeks. Akar attended the 
concluding session of the drills.

“We will continue to support Azerbaijan in its just struggle,” the Turkish 
minister said on August 13.

The drills and the more aggressive statements made by Turkish leaders raised the 
possibility of Turkish military intervention in the Karabakh conflict. A senior 
official in Yerevan said on August 3 that Armenia counts on Russia’s support in 
its efforts to counter the Turkish threat.

Armenia hosts about 5,000 Russian troops on its soil as part of close military 
ties between the two states.




Yerevan Decries Azeri Treatment Of Armenian POW

        • Artak Khulian

Armenia -- The Armenian Foreogn Ministry building, Yerevan.

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of violating international humanitarian law with 
its treatment of an Armenian army officer who was taken prisoner late last week.

The Azerbaijani military claims that the junior officer, Gurgen Alaverdian, was 
captured during a failed Armenian commando raid on one of its frontline 
positions north of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian Defense Ministry strongly 
denies this, saying that Alaverdian simply lost his way due to poor weather.

Azerbaijan’s government-controlled online media published on Tuesday an amateur 
video of Azerbaijani servicemen insulting and humiliating Alaverdian shortly 
after his capture.

Another video circulated by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry the following day, 
shows the serviceman saying in broken Armenian that he led a special army unit 
that planned to carry out “sabotage” attacks in Azerbaijan.

The Defense Ministry in Yerevan shrugged off the footage, saying that Alaverdian 
was clearly forced to read out a written text badly translated into Armenian.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said, for its part, the “degrading treatment” of 
the officer amounts to a gross violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention on 
prisoners of war.

“Such practice represents a distinctive method of notorious terrorist 
organizations and, as we can observe, of Azerbaijan as well,” the ministry said 
in a statement released late on Thursday.

“Azerbaijan’s dictatorial regime feeding its people with disgraceful propaganda 
and Armenophobia covers up serious setbacks suffered by its armed forces in the 
July battles [on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border] by coercing the prisoner of 
war to read out its sham narratives,” it charged.




Tsarukian Again Criticizes Armenian Government

        • Anush Mkrtchian

Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian arrives for a court 
hearing in Yerevan, June 21, 2020.

Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), on 
Friday again criticized the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic 
and other policies but stopped short of demanding its resignation.

Tsarukian described as “fruitless” government efforts to contain the spread of 
the coronavirus as he addressed hundreds of supporters in Armenia’s central 
Kotayk province.

“In terms of the number of deaths, hospitalizations and infections, we are the 
leaders in the region,” he said in a speech.

Tsarukian pointed to the officially registered deaths of 1,135 Armenians 
infected with COVID-19. “People get sick and they don’t get proper treatment,” 
he claimed.

The BHK leader, who is also one of the country’s wealthiest businesspeople, 
dismissed as insufficient the government’s wide-ranging stimulus measures 
against the socioeconomic fallout from the pandemic. He also blasted its broader 
economic policies, saying that they are not alleviating the plight of most 
Armenians.

Tsarukian went on to accuse Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration of 
undermining Armenian traditional values with what he described as plans to 
replace the teaching of the Armenian Apostolic Church history in schools with 
sex education classes. He said the BHK will hold a “big rally” soon in a bid to 
scuttle those plans.

“Let them think that we are backward. The people of Armenia will not allow sex 
classes for kids,” added the 63-year-old tycoon leading the country’s largest 
parliamentary opposition force.

Tsarukian had attacked Pashinian government and demanded its resignation at a 
June 5 meeting with senior BHK members. The move prompted angry reactions from 
the prime minister and his political allies.

Ten days later, Tsarukian was stripped of its parliamentary immunity from 
prosecution and indicted on vote buying charges rejected by him as politically 
motivated. He claims that Pashinian ordered the criminal proceedings in response 
to his speech.

Tsarukian did not call for the resignation of Pashinian or any other senior 
government official on Friday. He announced instead that he will hold a series 
of meetings with BHK activists and supporters across the country ahead of the 
upcoming autumn session of the Armenian parliament. He indicated that he will 
discuss with them his party’s next legislative initiatives.

Alen Simonian, a senior member of the ruling My Step bloc, dismissed the 
criticism voiced by Tsarukian, saying that Pashinian’s political team is not 
afraid of opposition rallies and other challenges. “I can’t wait to hear 
criticism from Tsarukian in the parliament,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

Simonian claimed that Tsarukian as well as former Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and 
Robert Kocharian and their former or current associates attack the current 
government in hopes of avoiding imprisonment on various criminal charges leveled 
against them.

“They all think that it will help them get away with stealing money from the 
state, beating up or kidnapping people, privatizing strategic facilities, 
handing out vote bribes and other things,” he said. “I believe they are wrong.”


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.