Armenia calls on allies to help get aid to Nagorno-Karabakh during tensions with Azerbaijan


YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia’s authorities on Friday called on the country’s international allies to put pressure on Azerbaijan after accusing it of carrying out a three-day blockade of humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Friday,



YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia’s authorities on Friday called on the country’s international allies to put pressure on Azerbaijan after accusing it of carrying out a three-day blockade of humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The accusations mark another flashpoint in the tense relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan which have fought over the breakaway region for decades.

The Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vahan Kostanyan, accused Azerbaijan of blocking the so-called Lachin Corridor and demanded international allies step in to allow 19 trucks with 400 tons of humanitarian aid to pass. According to Armenian authorities, the trucks have been stuck there since the evening of July 26.

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia’s authorities on Friday called on the country’s international allies to put pressure on Azerbaijan after accusing it of carrying out a three-day blockade of humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The accusations mark another flashpoint in the tense relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan which have fought over the breakaway region for decades.

The Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vahan Kostanyan, accused Azerbaijan of blocking the so-called Lachin Corridor and demanded international allies step in to allow 19 trucks with 400 tons of humanitarian aid to pass. According to Armenian authorities, the trucks have been stuck there since the evening of July 26.

“The additional pressure of our international partners on Baku is very important. We have heard statements from our various colleagues, but we don’t think this is enough,” he said.

Kostanyan previously also accused Azerbaijan of ignoring a ruling by the International Court of Justice ordering Azerbaijan authorities to ensure unimpeded movement in the Lachin Corridor, the only road from Armenia into Nagorno-Karabakh.

The ongoing dispute over the road has impeded food supplies to the region and aggravated tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which have fought two wars since the end of Soviet rule.

Nagorno-Karabakh had substantial autonomy under the Soviet Union and came under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military in 1994 at the end of years of separatist fighting. Armenian forces also took sizable territory surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh itself.

In 2020, Azerbaijan regained most of that surrounding territory and pieces of Nagorno-Karabakh itself in a war which killed about 6,800 soldiers. Under a Russia-brokered armistice, transit along the Lachin Corridor was to continue under the guarantee of Russian peacekeepers.

According to Armenian media, trucks and foreign diplomats are currently in the village of Kornidzor on Armenia’s border with Nagorno-Karabakh, which is at one end of the Lachin Corridor.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said that it viewed Armenia’s attempt to send a convoy to Nagorno-Karabakh “under the guise of ‘humanitarian aid’” as a violation of Azerbaijan’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty.” Azerbaijan also accuses Armenia of smuggling weapons into Nagorno-Karabakh.

The latest flare-up comes weeks following talks in Brussels and Washington aimed at calming tensions between the two countries after Azerbaijan opened a checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor in April. At that point, the road had already been blocked for four months by demonstrators who were protesting what they claimed to be illegal mining and other ecological abuses by Armenians in the area.


https://www.thestar.com/news/world/europe/armenia-calls-on-allies-to-help-get-aid-to-nagorno-karabakh-during-tensions-with-azerbaijan/article_254f13b7-4539-5210-b04d-619dbe59b20a.html


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https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/armenia-calls-allies-aid-nagorno-karabakh-tensions-azerbaijan-101770464


Address by the Foreign Minister of Armenia: UK response, July 2023

Speech

Ambassador Neil Holland says the UK remains deeply concerned about ongoing disruptions to the Lachin corridor and hopes momentum will be maintained towards an historic peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Zangi unveils messenger with NATO-approved military grade encryption for Nagorno Karabakh in case of internet blackout

 17:15,

YEREVAN, JULY 20, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) has signed a memorandum with the Armenian Zangi on launching a modern and secure messenger capable of being used without internet.  

The messenger is developed by Zangi and will be called ArtsakhX.

“We’ve solved several problems, most importantly the problems of security and access. In case of Artsakh’s internet getting cut off, ArtsakhX will continue to work with partial functionality,” Zangi CEO Vahram Martirosyan told ARMENPRESS.

ArtsakhX is encrypted with NATO-approved military grade End-to-End AES-GSM-256 algorithm. The servers and data will be located in Nagorno Karabakh, enabling to ensure data transfer in the event of an enemy electronic warfare or cyber attack.

The messenger is free and will be available in Nagorno Karabakh soon.

“ArtsakhX is a unique solution in the world, integrating civilian GSM operator and messenger system. ArtsakhX is created by Zangi and will be serviced by Zangi for free,” the CEO added.

Zangi began to work on the project six months ago, but the idea was conceived after the 2016 Nagorno Karabakh Four-Day War.

Karina Terteryan




Nagorno-Karabakh’s president goes on sit-down strike

 TASS 
Russia –
Arayik Harutyunyan plans to hold it on Renaissance Square in Stepanakert

YEREVAN, July 18. /TASS/. President of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic Arayik Harutyunyan said on Monday he is going to stage a sit-in in Stepanakert’s central square.

"I am forced to take this extreme step so that Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, the European Union, the UN Security Council and others cannot ignore Azerbaijan’s current and future aggressive actions and crimes and ultimately implement their commitments under the trilateral statement, the international court ruling and other documents," he said in a televised address to the nation.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a government meeting on June 16 that Azerbaijan had completely blocked the Lachin corridor making it impossible to deliver humanitarian cargoes to Nagorno-Karabakh, leaving some 120,000 people in the region on the edge of a humanitarian catastrophe. International organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, have limited access to the region.

https://tass.com/world/1648177

Azerbaijan accuses Russia of not meeting obligations under 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire

Azerbaijan accused Russia on Sunday of failing to fulfil its obligations under a 2020 Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement to end fighting with Armenia for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"The Russian side did not ensure full implementation of the agreement within the framework of its obligations," Baku's foreign ministry said, adding that Moscow "did nothing to prevent" Armenia's military supplies from reaching separatist forces in the restive enclave.

In autumn 2020, Russia sponsored a ceasefire agreement that ended six weeks of fighting over the mountainous breakaway region.

The deal saw Armenia cede swathes of territory, while Russia deployed peacekeepers to the five-kilometre-wide Lachin Corridor, the sole land link between the enclave and Armenia.

Baku recently closed the corridor, sparking protests and fears of a humanitarian crisis.

On Saturday, Russia's foreign ministry urged Azerbaijan to reopen the passageway.

It also said Armenia's recent recognition of Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan "has radically changed the standing of the Russian peacekeeping contingent".

"Under such conditions, the responsibility for the destiny of Karabakh's Armenian population should not be shifted onto third countries," it said, a possible reference to the Armenian separatists' calls for Moscow to ensure the reopening of the land link.

(AFP)


Asbarez: Erdogan Says Russian Forces Must Leave Karabakh in 2025

President Recep Tayyip Erdigan of Turkey in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 12


President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said that in 2025 Russian peacekeeping forces must leave “Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region.”

He explained that the November 9, 2020 agreement signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia stipulated a five-year term for the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh.

“In 2025 Russia must leave that region. It is written in the agreement and I am confident that Russia will adhere to it,” Erdogan said during a press conference on the margins of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuanian.

Despite Erdogan’s assertion, Turkey’s closest ally Azerbaijan has continuously violated the November 9, 2020 agreement that the Turkish president referenced. For seven months, Azerbaijan has blockaded Artsakh by closing the Lachin Corridor and setting up an illegal checkpoint at the entrance on the Hakari Bridge.

On Tuesday, Azerbaijan completely blocked access to the road to the International Committee of the Red Cross, accusing the international organization of abetting the smuggling of goods from Armenia to Artsakh.

Call from Blinken to Aliyev! Support for peace talks with Armenia

India –

In a written statement, US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller said that Blinken reiterated the US “support for the negotiations” between the two countries and emphasized the “need for creativity, flexibility and reconciliation” in the talks.

In the statement, “Minister Blinken underlined the need for free passage of commercial, humanitarian and private vehicles through the Lachin corridor. He emphasized that both sides should maintain the positive momentum in the negotiations for a lasting and dignified peace.” statements were included.

Foreign Minister Blinken stated on Twitter that he had also met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Blinken shared, “Yesterday I spoke with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashian to reiterate my strong support for the ongoing efforts to achieve peace with Azerbaijan. The only way to a lasting peace in the South Caucasus is through direct dialogue and diplomacy, and I am determined to help facilitate it.” had used the words.

https://morningexpress.in/call-from-blinken-to-aliyev-support-for-peace-talks-with-armenia/

Turkish Press: Russian, Armenian leaders discuss situation in Karabakh over phone

Turkey – July 5 2023

Russian, Armenian leaders discuss situation in Karabakh over phone

President Putin, Armenian Premier Pashinyan discuss ensuring unhindered transport links along Lachin road

17:15 . 5/07/2023 Wednesday
AA

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Karabakh in a phone call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

According to a Kremlin statement, the two leaders discussed, among other things, ensuring unhindered transport links along the Lachin road – a mountain corridor that Armenia has used to access the Karabakh region now controlled by Azerbaijan.

"The fundamentally important meaning of the consistent implementation of the entire set of agreements of the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in 2020-2022 was emphasized," it said.

The president confirmed Russia’s readiness to continue to provide practical assistance in the development of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.

Putin and Pashinyan agreed to stay in touch, the statement added.

RFE/RL Armenian Service – 07/07/2023

                                        Friday, July 7, 2023


France Wants Security Guarantees For Karabakh Armenians


Azerbaijan - French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna attends a joint news 
conference with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku, April 27, 
2023.


A peace accord between Armenia and Azerbaijan must contain firm security 
guarantees for Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population, French Foreign 
Minister Catherine Colonna said late on Thursday.

Colonna and her Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan discussed ongoing 
Armenian-Azerbaijani talks on such a treaty in a phone call.

“The Minister confirmed France’s full mobilization in support of the 
negotiations under way between Armenia and Azerbaijan on all outstanding 
issues,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the call.

“She emphasized that only an agreement that respects international law, 
guaranteeing the opportunity for the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to 
continue living there with their rights and culture respected, could lead to a 
just and lasting peace between the two countries,” added the statement.

Armenia maintains that such guarantees should be worked out through an 
“international mechanism” for a dialogue between the Azerbaijani government and 
Karabakh’s leadership. The Armenian Foreign Ministry said late last week that 
Baku and Yerevan continue to disagree on this issue. Azerbaijani Foreign 
Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said earlier that his government will not agree to any 
special arrangements for the rights and security of the Karabakh Armenians.

In recent months, Baku has repeatedly accused France’s President Emmanuel Macron 
and other officials of siding with Armenia in the conflict. Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev charged on Monday that Paris is fomenting “Armenian 
separatism” in Karabakh.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian rejected the Azerbaijani criticism and praised 
France on Thursday, saying that he hopes more countries will follow its example.

“The [Azerbaijani] propaganda against France is aimed at preventing other 
countries from adequately assessing the humanitarian crisis in 
Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said.

Pashinian himself has been accused by his domestic political opponents of 
jeopardizing Karabakh’s security with his recent pledge to recognize Azerbaijani 
sovereignty over the region.




Minister Defends Ouster Of Outspoken Judge

        • Narine Ghalechian

Armenia - Justice Minister Grigor Minasian, December 26, 2022.


Justice Minister Grigor Minasian on Friday defended his decision to initiate the 
dismissal of a prominent judge who accused Armenia’s government and state 
judicial watchdog of seeking to control courts.

The Armenian Ministry of Justice petitioned the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) 
last month to take disciplinary action against the judge, Davit Harutiunian, 
after he claimed that the SJC arbitrarily fires his colleagues at the behest of 
a single person. The state watchdog headed by Karen Andreasian, a political ally 
of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, sacked Harutiunian on Monday.

Opposition figures and lawyers portrayed the move as further proof that 
Pashinian’s government is seeking to further curb judicial independence in 
Armenia under the guise of Western-backed “judicial reforms.”

“The Judicial Code stipulates that a judge has no right to criticize another 
judicial body, which in this case was the Supreme Judicial Council,” Minasian 
countered as he answered questions from Facebook users at the RFE/RL studio in 
Yerevan.

“If a judge … has been fine and happy with the judicial system for 12 years and 
started making statements only after disciplinary proceedings were launched 
against him or his friend, I see a conflict of interest here,” he said, accusing 
Harutiunian of “caring only about his own skin.”

Harutiunian’s ouster highlighted the Armenian authorities’ growing recourse to 
punitive measures against judges. The practice was facilitated by a 2021 law 
which Andreasian helped to enact in his previous capacity as justice minister. 
The number of disciplinary proceedings against judges has risen sharply in the 
last two years.

Last December, the SJC controversially fired a judge married to a vocal critic 
of the government. Another Yerevan judge, Zaruhi Nakhshkarian, openly criticized 
Anahit Pilosian’s sacking. Nakhshkarian lost her job as a result. Her removal 
was also initiated by the Ministry of Justice.

Andreasian terminated his membership in Pashinian’s Civil Contract party shortly 
before taking over as SJC chairman last October. Minasian succeeded him as 
justice minister. The two men are close friends, according to some media 
reports. They were spotted meeting at a café in Yerevan on June 23, after the 
formal launch of the disciplinary proceedings against Harutiunian.

The SJC is a supposedly independent body that nominates judges, monitors their 
work and can fire them.




Top Biden Aide Meets Armenian Official


U.S. - U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing 
at the White House in Washington, April 24, 2023.


U.S. President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with a 
senior Armenian official in Washington late on Thursday for talks on regional 
security and U.S.-Armenian relations.

“We discussed the security situation and challenges in the region and the wider 
region,” Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, wrote on 
Facebook on Friday. “In this context, I presented to my interlocutor the 
Armenian side’s approaches to a number of important directions.”

In his words, bilateral ties were also on the agenda, with both men calling for 
closer U.S.-Armenian cooperation on “energy, economy and democracy.” Grigorian 
did not explicitly mention ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks or give 
other details of the meeting.

Neither Sullivan nor his office issued a statement on the meeting that came one 
week after the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers concluded a new round 
of U.S.-mediated negotiations on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. The 
ministers held trilateral meetings in Washington with Sullivan and U.S. 
Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Blinken said on June 29 that despite “further progress” made by them “there 
remains hard work to be done to try to reach a final agreement.” Armenian Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian likewise noted on Thursday that the progress “not 
significant.”

“Unfortunately, the text of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan is 
not yet ready for signing,” Pashinian said.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on June 30 that the conflicting sides 
continue to disagree on mechanisms for delimiting the Armenian-Azerbaijan border 
and organizing a dialogue between Baku and Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership.

The U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Kristina Kvien, on Thursday reaffirmed 
Washington’s support for such dialogue. “The question of the rights and security 
of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh is central to the conflict between Armenia 
and Azerbaijan,” she said.





Captured Armenian Soldiers Sentenced In Azerbaijan

        • Robert Zargarian

Azerbaijan - Armenian soldiers stand trial in Sumgait, July 5, 2023.


A court in Azerbaijan sentenced two Armenian soldiers to 11.5 years in prison on 
Friday more than one month after they were captured by Azerbaijani forces in an 
apparent cross-border incursion.

According to the Armenian Defense Ministry, the soldiers, Harutiun Hovagimian 
and Karen Ghazarian, were ambushed and “kidnapped” on May 26 after delivering 
water and food to Armenian army units guarding the border with Azerbaijan. The 
ministry published photographs of their abandoned military truck found in a 
wooded area in in Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province.

The Azerbaijani side claimed that Hovagimian and Ghazarian were taken prisoner 
during a sabotage attack on an Azerbaijani army outpost. It brought a string of 
criminal charges, including “terrorism,” against them. They were convicted of 
these charges, strongly denied by Yerevan, at the end of a brief trial that 
began on Monday.

Artak Zeynalian, a human rights lawyer representing the families of dozens of 
other Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan, described the trial as a 
“farce.” Zeynalian said the Azerbaijani military “kidnapped” Hovagimian and 
Ghazarian in hopes of swapping them with two Azerbaijani soldiers who were 
detained in Armenia in April.

Baku has repeatedly demanded the release of the Azerbaijani conscripts, saying 
that they strayed into Armenian territory from the Nakhichevan exclave due to 
heavy fog.

One of them, Huseyn Akhundov, was charged with murdering a Syunik resident one 
day before his detention. An Armenian court sentenced Akhundov to 20 years in 
prison on June 21.

The other Azerbaijani soldier, Agshin Bebirov, was given a 11.5-year prison 
sentence in May. Both rulings were condemned by Baku.


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.

 

Armenian Americans Call for Cancellation of Disney Atatürk Series

July 2 2023

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has called on Disney to cancel its upcoming series about the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding father of the modern Turkish state.

The ANCA accused Dinsey of glorifying a “dictator and genocide killer”. Meanwhile, Turkish media called the response “reactionary”.

The series is scheduled for release on October 29 this year, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey. Disney has made no indication that it will consider canceling the series.

“Calling on@DisneyPlus to cancel its series glorifying Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – a Turkish dictator and genocide killer with the blood of millions of #Greek #Armenian #Assyrian #Chaldean #Syriac #Aramean #Maronite and other #Christian martyrs on his hands,” posted the ANCA on Twitter this Thursday.

According to its official website, the ANCA “is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots political organization.” The organization, which is headquartered in Washington D.C., “actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.”

The ANCA further claimed that “Half of Turkish Twitter is desperately denying Atatürk was a genocidal killer. The other half is joyfully celebrating that Atatürk was a genocidal killer.”

One Turkish media platform, Turkish Series TV, called the reaction of the Armenian diaspora to the upcoming series “reactionary”.

The controversy surrounding the Dinsey Atatürk series highlights the intensity of longstanding grievances, which have never been fully addressed since the Armenian genocide, as well as the Pontian Greek, and Assyrian genocides.

The Armenian genocide was the systematic massacre and forced deportation of Armenians committed by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, during and after the First World War.

As of 2023, the governments and parliaments of 34 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Russia, and the United States, have formally recognized the Armenian genocide.

Turkey, and its close ally Azerbaijan, as well as Pakistan, deny that the genocide took place. According to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Infusing history with myth, Armenian Americans vilify the Republic of Türkiye, Turkish Americans, and ethnic Turks worldwide.”

“Armenians bent on this prosecution choose their evidence carefully, omitting all evidence that tends to exonerate those whom they presume guilty, ignoring important events and verifiable accounts, and sometimes relying on dubious or prejudiced sources and even falsified documents,” the ministry continues.

Beyond a merely historical dispute, the Armenian genocide and the contention surrounding it remains an important factor in diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey, as well as a point of potential friction between the Armenian and Turkish diasporas in various other countries.

https://greekreporter.com/2023/07/02/armenian-americans-call-for-cancellation-of-disney-ataturk-series/