Author: Lara Antonian

Declaration on ending war is not a political document of NK conflict settlement – PM Pashinyan

Lara Antonian

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 22:14, 13 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan emphasizes that the declaration on ending the war in Nagorno Karabakh is not a political document of the settlement of the conflict. According to the PM, there are formulations and sentences in that document that must be interpreted and get political content, ARMENPRESS reports the PM said in an interview with Public TV.

''In fact, discussions must still start and it will be diplomatic discussion. And I think those discussions will last for a long period. I want to pay the attention of everyone on the fact that this is a document on stopping the military operations. The discussions will be possible and they will take place’', Pashinyan said.

Referring to the question that the opposition says there is still time to cancel the declaration, but the PM does not listen to them, Pashinyan answered, ''Personally I never heard how it can be cancelled. I can say something else, we can take that paper, tear it and throw away. But we should also understand the consequences of such an act. It means we will return to the situation when that paper was signed. And what does it mean? It means that we say that let our 30 thousands soldiers be blockaded’’.

The PM said that the circumstances when that document was signed should be considered. ‘’As I have already said, I made that decision based on the analysis of the military situation on the ground. I told in my yesterday’s speech that the key factor that resulted in my signing of the document is that in fact, Stepanakert city had no defense following the fall of Shushi. And if we could not stop the war very quickly, within hours, Stepanakert would have fallen, Askeran and Martakert would fall automatically. This means that 20-30 thousands of our soldiers, depending on the scenario, would find themselves in a blockade. It’s also very important that those soldiers that would have appeared in a blockade would be unable to have any impact on the situation. Why? Because they were standing on the front line, but the blockade that could have happened would be from the rear. And this was no the case when an all-around-defense could be possible, since the front line would collapse and we would have such a situation’’, PM Pashinyan said.

Referring to the question why the issue was not discussed at the National Assembly with the opposition, Nikol Pashinyan said that it was in the logic of the operative management of the military operations. ‘’Because it’s nearly the same as, for example, when one of our units retreated from one place or decided to attack in another place, why that issue was not discussed at the National Assembly, was not discussed with the opposition?’’, he said.

PM Pashinyan added that at that time military operations were going on, and those were extremely critical operations. ‘’I again want to say that now it’s often discussed the issue what we surrendered with that signature. But the reality is that this document is not or at least is not only about what we surrendered, but what we managed to preserve’’, Pashinyan said, adding that the lives of nearly 30 thousands soldiers were under risk when the document was signed.

TURKISH press: Baku to invite Turkish troops if any country threatens Azerbaijan, Aliyev says

Lara Antonian
 ISTANBUL DIPLOMACY 
NOV 09, 2020 11:35 AM GMT+3
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev gestures as he addresses the nation during his visit to the Alley of Martyrs in Baku, Azerbaijan on Nov. 8, 2020. (Reuters Photo)

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he will invite Turkish troops to Azerbaijan if any country threatens Baku, amid the ongoing conflict in the Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.

“We have urged all countries, including our neighbors and non-neighbors, to stay away from this conflict,” Aliyev said, adding that Azerbaijan is fighting against Armenia on internationally recognized Azerbaijani lands.

Aliyev said he does not think Turkish assistance will be necessary, but there is an agreement with Turkey, which was signed years ago, foreseeing military assistance in times of aggression.

“If Azerbaijan faces aggression and needs military support from the Turkish army, we can use this option and invite them over,” Aliyev was quoted as saying.

Aliyev's statement came a day after the Azerbaijani military liberated the strategic city of Shusha after 28 years of occupation by Armenia.

Shusha holds critical importance in the overall liberation of the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The town has a significant military value since it is located on strategic heights about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the region’s capital over Khankendi (Stepanakert) and on the road linking the city with Armenian territory.

About 20% of Azerbaijan's territory – including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions – have been under Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

While world powers have called for a sustainable cease-fire, Turkey has supported Baku's right to self-defense and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces.

Multiple U.N. resolutions also call for the unconditional withdrawal of the invading forces.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a bitter conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of the mountainous province in a 1990s war that left 30,000 people dead.

Nagorno-Karabakh's self-declared independence has not been recognized internationally, even by Armenia, and it remains a part of Azerbaijan under international law.

It has been the heaviest fighting since a 1994 cease-fire erupted on Sept. 27 and has persisted despite intense diplomatic efforts to bring it to a halt.

The two sides have three times agreed to for a cease-fire – the latest in a U.S.-brokered deal over the weekend, but the truces have all quickly fallen apart.

The fighting has intensified in recent days with renewed shelling and rocket attacks on civilian areas.

With Allies Unwilling to Back Armenia, is it Time to Change Course?

Lara Antonian
International Policy Digest
Nov 8  2020
 
 
 
 
 Joseph Hammond
With the presidency decided in the United States, two countries in the South Caucasus have been fighting a little-covered war. U.S. leadership and experience in arbitrating disputes could play a key role in resolving this conflict, which goes back to the closing days of the Soviet Union and saw brutal fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
 
While Armenia had won the war by 1994, in many ways it lost the peace, becoming increasingly isolated on the world stage.
 
With few options, Yerevan has been drawn into Moscow’s orbit, even reluctantly joining Moscow’s Eurasian Economic Union. Armenia faithfully purchased the majority of its military equipment from Russia, despite superior systems being available, under the belief that Russia would support their position in a crisis.
 
Iran, also in need of friends, became allies with Armenia over fears that Tehran’s large Azerbaijani population might soon prefer the rule of Baku to Iran’s Mullahs. Such policies have so far proved to be a dead-end as neither country has intervened to assist Armenia in its current war. Indeed, Russia has reiterated its support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity on the basis of international law.
 
Armenia’s fate is perhaps symbolized by the Medzamor Nuclear Power Plant. It was opposition to this facility on environmental grounds that led to some of the largest protests in the history of the Soviet Union in 1987 by Armenians. Built with an outdated design, it was deemed too dangerous to operate by Soviet authorities who shut it off in 1988 after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck just 75 kilometers away from the facility. Its closure was hailed as a victory and served as inspiration for Armenian patriots to dream of a future without communism.
 
Yet, Armenia was forced to sadly reactivate the facility just five years later. No less than National Geographic has wondered aloud if it is the world’s most dangerous nuclear reactor and one located just 30 km from the Armenian capital of Yerevan. In an unfortunate irony, a former prime minister claimed Armenia had developed its own nuclear weapons as recently as 2016.
 
Many Armenians, to use Lenin’s famous phrase, have in the decades since 1991 voted for peace with their feet and left the country. While this has been a problem in other post-communist nations, it has been more acute in Armenia. All of its neighbors have grown in population since 1991, but Armenia has declined. More worrying is the fact that citizens of those countries are also now richer than Armenia in per capita terms if international data can be trusted.
 
Like an outdated nuclear reactor, the powder keg that is Nagorno-Karabakh has produced a humanitarian disaster — four weeks of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The United States, in league with the international community, must lay out a clear policy designed at breaking the cycle of conflict and self-isolation to create a stable and prosperous Southern Caucasus region.
 
 
America must also carefully balance domestic concerns as the U.S. is home to a large Armenian-American community who have called for targeted sanctions against the government of Azerbaijan since the resumption of fighting.
 
Yet, multiple resolutions from the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the European Parliament have recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as legally part of Azerbaijani territory.
 
Some argue the historical trauma of Armenia’s history requires the United States to ignore international law in this case. However, for the U.S to take sides in the conflict would be unbecoming of America’s role as a chair of OSCE Minsk Group which is focused on negotiating an end to this conflict.
 
In addition, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has asked Russia for assistance, demonstrating that Armenia uses Russia repeatedly as a backstop in the conflict.
 
Azerbaijan can point to its own set of traumas such as the displacement of hundreds of thousands of IDPs from their homes during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
 
This week Baku re-stated its commitment to autonomy for the region and left open the possibility of allowing international observers and peacekeepers to oversee any peace agreement. This gesture presents an opening that must be seized upon. Contemporary Azerbaijan, whatever its faults are, is a multicultural society home to Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Peace will require the vision and leadership to look to the future, not the past.
 
Here the United States and international organizations like the UN or OSCE can play a role by providing observers and potential peacekeepers to ensure that the rights of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh will be protected and that sacred sites are restored or protected after a cease-fire is signed.
 
American history also can be instructive. At the Camp David Accords in 1979, President Jimmy Carter forged a historic agreement between Egypt and Israel. One of the terms of that agreement was energy trade between the two nations. A similar mandate in a treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan could compel the latter to sell petroleum products to energy-poor Armenia and work to ensure that surrounding states open their borders to Armenian trade.
 
The dreams of shutting down the Medzomar Nuclear Power Plant envisioned by Armenians back in 1987 might today finally become a reality. As well as their dreams for a more prosperous homeland as well as the dream of peace.
 
 
 

Putin, Erdogan ready to join efforts to solve Karabakh conflict

Lara Antonian
TASS, Russia
Nov 8 2020
Earlier the Turkish presidential office said that Erdogan insisted that Yerevan should be persuaded to sit at the negotiation table. He pointed out that a permanent solution to that conflict was a key factor for stability in the region
Russian President Vladimir Putin

© Alexei Nikolsky/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call about phone talks with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia aimed at looking for a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

According to the Kremlin press office, both presidents confirmed readiness to seek peace for Nagorno-Karabakh.

"[The two presidents] focused on the situation in the zone of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Russian president informed his Turkish counterpart about a series of his telephone contacts with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Those contacts sought options for the cessation of hostilities at the soonest possible time and for finding a political and diplomatic solution. Mutual readiness to cooperate so as to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict was confirmed," the statement said.

On Saturday, the Turkish presidential office said that Erdogan insisted that Yerevan should be persuaded to sit at the negotiation table. He pointed out that a permanent solution to that conflict was a key factor for stability in the region, according to the press release.

The Kremlin said earlier that on November 1 and 2 Putin held meaningful talks over the phone with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, discussing solutions to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with them.

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. Three ceasefire agreements have been negotiated so far, but almost immediately both sides begin blaming each other for violating the truce.

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.


Azerbaijan suffers 135 KIAs in past day, death toll reaches 7290

Lara Antonian

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 16:11, 5 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani military death toll has increased by 135 in one day and reached 7290.

The Armenian Unified Infocenter said the Azeri military also lost an additional 5 UAVs and 26 units of armored equipment.

The total materiel losses of the Azeri side since their attacks on Artsakh began are: 257 UAVs, 16 helicopters, 25 warplanes, 723 armored equipment and 6 TOS launchers.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

President of Artsakh strongly condemns Vienna terror act

Lara Antonian

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 19:36, 3 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. Yesterday’s terrorist attack in Vienna, Austria has once again attested to the fact that in no way could the world community afford selective approaches in the fight against international terrorism, as it is the greatest menace to mankind in our times, ARMENPRESS reports President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan wrote on his Facebook page.

''No state is immune to terrorism, and I believe terrorism must not be associated with any particular civilization, religion, nationality or ethnic group.

We express our deep sympathies and condolences to the families of victims of the terrorist attacks and wish the wounded speedy recovery.

It has been more than a month that in full view of the international community Artsakh became a target of terrorism, combating aspirations and attempts of Azerbaijan and Turkey to turn the South Caucasus into a new hotbed of international terrorism.

The Republic of Artsakh faces terrorism and crimes against humanity, suffering human and tangible material loss.

We strongly condemn any attempt whereby communities are subjected to terrorism, and the civilian population is targeted deliberately on the grounds of ethnic or religious belonging.

Any attempt to justify those encouraging, sponsoring or perpetrating terrorism and extremism, as well as those inciting hate crime and violence, should be unequivocally condemned.

The Republic of Artsakh remains committed to those principles and determined to contribute to the fight against terrorism, reinforcing international and regional security, and we will struggle to the end for our right to secure life and development'', he wrote.

Armenia, Azerbaijan trade fresh accusations of Karabakh attacks

Lara Antonian
Cyprus Mail
Oct 31 2020
By Reuters News Service

Armenia and Azerbaijan once more accused each other of bombing residential areas on Saturday, in defiance of a pact to avoid the deliberate targeting of civilians in and around the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Shelling was reported by both sides within hours of the latest agreement to defuse the conflict, reached after talks in Geneva between the two countries’ foreign ministers and envoys from France, Russia and the United States.

The agreement with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group fell short of what would have been a fourth ceasefire since fighting began on Sept. 27. The death toll in the worst fighting in the South Caucasus for more than 25 years has 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. About 30,000 people were killed in a 1991-94 war in the region.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Emergency and Rescue Service said the central market in Stepanakert, the enclave’s largest city, had come under fire and that large parts of it had been burned.

Shushan Stepanyan, spokeswoman for the Armenian defence ministry, also said several civilians had been wounded in attacks on the strategic city of Shushi, 15 km (9 miles) to the south of Stepanakert.

Azerbaijan‘s defence ministry denied both accusations. It said that the regions of Terter, Aghdam and Aghjabedi had come under artillery fire, as had Gubadli, a town between the enclave and the Iranian border that was taken by Azeri troops this week.

More than 1,000 fighters from the Nagorno-Karabakh army have been killed. Azerbaijan has not disclosed its military casualties, while Russia has estimated as many as 5,000 deaths on both sides.

Three ceasefires have failed to halt the fighting, the most recent brokered in Washington last Sunday by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The OSCE Minsk Group said Armenia and Azerbaijan had also agreed to exchange the bodies of fighters and to provide within a week lists of detained prisoners of war, with the aim of an eventual exchange.

Azerbaijan continues attacks, suffers losses, retreats – MoD

Lara Antonian

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 22:14,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani army, reinforced by Turkish troops and mercenary-terrorists continued attacks in different directions against Artsakh during the day, ARMENPRESS reports representative of the MoD Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a press conference.

''Today in the morning, earlier than usually, the Azerbaijani armed forces initiated attacks in different directions. First, in the northern direction, following a short artillery firing, they tried to attack a number of positions with infantry. They were immediately crushed, suffered serious losses and retreated, leaving many dead in the battlefield'', Hovhannisyan said.

He added that clashes continued also in the southern direction.

''In the central direction two separate operations took place. First, they tried to break in the front line in the direction of Chartar community of Martuni region. Our armed forces did not retreat and at the moment the positions have remained unchanged, but the clashes are fierce. Second, clashes continue in the forests near Shushi'', Hovhannisyan said.

I believe these days will be a turning point – Artsakh’s President addresses nation from Shushi

Lara Antonian

I believe these days will be a turning point – Artsakh's President addresses nation from Shushi

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 19:39,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan addressed the nation from Artsakh's Shushi city, where the President emphasized that a breakthrough must be made on the frontline. President Harutyunyan underlined that he believes in the victory of the Armenian people and urged to unify, fight and punish the enemy. ARMENPRESS presents the address of Arayik Harutyunyan.

''Dar compatriots, sisters and brothers, ny friends in Artsakh, Republic of Armenia and the Diaspora,

Like in 1992, when our triumphal march kicked off by the liberation of Shushi, today our victory is conditioned by the protection of Shushi. The enemy is just a few kilometers from here, maximum 5 kilometers.

And the main goal of the enemy is to occupy Shushi. There is a saying who controls Shushi, he controls Artsakh. And I want us to understand this point, understand not just by words, but directly participate in the protection of Shushi. For the first time in my life I was in Shushi on May 8, 1992 and was among the first ones to enter Ghazanchetsots Church and kiss the cross and I prayed and lit a candle for our victory. In reality, I believe in our victory, and I believe that these days will be a turning point. For that goal we have to unite, we have to fight and punish the enemy. But for that it's also necessary to reach Artsakh as soon as possible. Of course, this speech is not intended for panic, just the oppositie. I again reiterate, I believe in our victory. And we have to make a breakthrough in the front line within the days and have to punish the enemy just near the gates of Shushi. Let's unite and fight together. Of course, we understand and comprehend everything, but let's carry out our greatest mission, for the sake of the Motherland, our future and our generations. The victory must be our, be confident, I believe in our victory'', Harutyunyan said.

[see video]
Arayik Harutyunyan also made a post on his facebook page, saying,

''Dear compatriots,

Today, in this decisive historical moment, when the Turkish-Azerbaijani and terrorist gangs, using their entire military resources, undertook an offensive at Artsakh, aimed at extermination and exile of all Artsakh Armenians, who have been living on their native soil for millennia, from their Homeland, we carry on a life and death struggle, in unequal conditions in every respect.
Now they threaten our Homeland and our existence not only along the entire frontline, but have also invested serious military resources in the direction of Shoushi, in order to capture the proud Armenian town-fortress at any cost.
Shoushi is not just a town, it is the symbol of the determination of the Armenian people to live in their own cradle, a symbol of the victories of the Armenian people. Shoushi is the beating heart of all Armenians.
As a Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Artsakh, I once again call on each and every one of you to unite and defend our Shoushi, our Artsakh, our national dignity''.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 10/25/2020

Lara Antonian 
                                        Sunday, 

Aliyev Sets Conditions For Karabakh Ceasefire

        • Naira Bulghadarian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Ethnic Armenian soldiers stand at a fighting position on the 
frontline, October 21, 2020

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that Baku is ready to halt 
hostilities in and around Nagorno-Karabakh if Armenia accepts a framework peace 
accord put forward by the United States, Russia and France.

“We are ready today to negotiate a ceasefire,” he told the Fox News TV network 
in an interview publicized by his office on Sunday. “But at the same time, 
Armenia, its prime minister must say that they support the basic principles [of 
a Karabakh settlement] drafted by the U.S., Russia and France.”

Aliyev said that Armenia should agree to “substantive” negotiations on those 
principles calling for a phased resolution of the Karabakh conflict. He claimed 
that Yerevan has “imitated” such talks until now.

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian dismissed Aliyev’s statement. 
Mane Gevorgian said that the current Armenian government has always expressed 
readiness to seek a compromise-based solution in contrast to Baku’s “maximalist” 
stance.


AZERBAIJAN -- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev gestures as he addresses the 
nation in Baku, October 20, 2020

In separate comments to the Sputinik news agency, Gevorgian said that Yerevan is 
“committed” to seeking a peace deal that would be based on the principles cited 
by Aliyev. “Armenia is prepared for a ceasefire and a negotiating process,” she 
said.

The warring sides twice reached ceasefire agreements brokered by Russia and 
France earlier this month. The large-scale fighting in the conflict zone has 
continued since then, however, with each side accusing the other of violating 
the agreements.

The Russian-mediated deal also committed Baku and Yerevan to “embarking on 
substantive negotiations with the aim of rapidly achieving a peaceful 
settlement.” It said the talks will focus on the “basic principles” that were 
first drafted by the U.S., Russian and French mediators over a decade ago.

“Their essence is known: a phased liberation of districts around Karabakh while 
observing security guarantees for Karabakh and ensuring a reliable link between 
Armenia and Karabakh until determining the final status of Karabakh,” Russian 
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on October 14.


Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visits a military hospital in Yerevan 
where soldiers wounded during fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh are treated, October 
23, 2020.

The conflicting parties reported on Sunday continued fighting and shelling of 
civilian areas on either side of the Karabakh “line of contact.” Karabakh’s 
Armenian-backed army said 11 more of its soldiers have been killed in action, 
raising to 971 the total number of combat deaths within its ranks. The 
Azerbaijani army has still not disclosed its combat casualties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that as many as 5,000 
soldiers from both sides have died since the outbreak of the war on September 27.

The hostilities continued despite what U.S. President Donald Trump described on 
Friday as “good progress” in U.S. efforts to restore a ceasefire regime. Trump 
spoke shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held separate walks in 
Washington with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers.

The ministers also met with Robert O’Brien, Trump’s national security adviser. 
“In my meeting with Azerbaijani FM [Jeyhun Bayramov] I pressed for an immediate 
ceasefire, then a return to Minsk Group-facilitated negotiations with Armenia 
and rejection of outside actors further destabilizing the situation,” O’Brien 
said afterwards.



Armenian Hospitals Overwhelmed With COVID-19 Patients

        • Karlen Aslanian

Armenia -- A healthcare worker in protective gear tends to a COVID-19 patient at 
the Surp Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, Yerevan, June 5, 2020.

Armenian hospitals are increasingly struggling to cope with the pandemic due to 
a continuing surge in new coronavirus infections, Health Minister Arsen Torosian 
warned on Sunday.

A resurgence in cases officially registered in Armenia began in mid-September 
and accelerated after the outbreak on September 27 of the war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Armenian Ministry of Health reported in the morning that 2,314 people have 
tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, compared with 1,371 cases 
registered on October 15. It had reported 850 single-day cases during the 
previous peak of the pandemic in late June.

The ministry also reported 23 more deaths caused by the disease, bringing the 
official death toll from COVID-19 to 1,180.

As of Sunday morning, there were 25,412 active coronavirus cases in the country 
of about 3 million. More than 800 of these patients are hospitalized in a 
serious or critical condition, Torosian said, adding that about 450 others are 
awaiting hospitalization.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, the minister said that the 
health authorities are now scrambling to increase the nationwide hospital 
capacity to deal with the increased influx of infected people. He said that 
Armenian hospitals may soon be unable to treat all patients in urgent need of 
life-saving medical aid if the spread of the disease continues unabated.

“If we are unable to hospitalize everyone there may be [coronavirus-related] 
deaths outside hospitals,” Torosian warned. He again pleaded with Armenians to 
wear masks and follow other safety rules set by the government.

Many people stopped taking these precautions after the start of the deadly war 
that has overshadowed the pandemic.

Torosian acknowledged that the continuing war has contributed to the second wave 
of COVID-19 infections. “I don’t know to what extent, but it has definitely 
aggravated the situation,” he said.



U.S. ‘Pushing’ Azerbaijan To Stop Karabakh Fighting

US-POLITICS-PRESS BRIEFING

The United States is pressing Azerbaijan to agree to a ceasefire in the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien 
said on Sunday.

"Under the president’s direction, we have spent the entire weekend trying to 
broker peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia has accepted a ceasefire. 
Azerbaijan has not yet,” O’Brien told CBS.

“We are pushing them [Azerbaijan] to do so,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump also commented on the Karabakh war as he spoke at an 
election campaign rally in New Hampshire. “Armenia, they are incredible people, 
they are fighting like hell and … we’re going to get something done,” he said.

“We’ll get that sorted out … I call that an easy one,” Trumped added, referring 
to the fighting. He did not elaborate.

O’Brien and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo separately met with the Armenian 
and Azerbaijan foreign ministers in Washington on Friday as part of 
international efforts to stop the month-long war over Karabakh.

“In my meeting with Azerbaijani FM [Jeyhun Bayramov] I pressed for an immediate 
ceasefire, then a return to Minsk Group-facilitated negotiations with Armenia 
and rejection of outside actors further destabilizing the situation,” O’Brien 
said shortly afterwards. “There is no military solution.”

Pompeo said, for his part, that he discussed with Bayramov and Armenian Foreign 
Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian “critical steps to halt violence in the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

According to the Reuters news agency, Mnatsakanian described his meeting with 
Pompeo as “very good” as he exited the U.S. State Department. He said work on a 
ceasefire will continue.

Russia and France already brokered Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire agreements on 
October 10 and October 17 respectively. The agreements did not stop hostilities 
in and around Karabakh, with the warring sides accusing each other of not 
respecting it.

Armenia says that the efforts to halt the hostilities are also obstructed by 
Turkey, a claim denied by Ankara and Baku. Pompeo criticized the Turkish role in 
the Karabakh conflict last week.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said, meanwhile, that the mediating powers 
should put pressure on Armenia if they want to stop the war.

“We have one condition: if the countries that have supported Armenia and created 
for almost 30 years conditions for its occupation of our lands want a ceasefire 
they must put pressure on Armenia,” Aliyev said, according to TASS. “The 
Armenian prime minister must state that his country will leave the occupied 
territories. We haven’t heard such a statement.”


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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