Author: Paul Hambardsumian

UN faces scrutiny over mission to Nagorno-Karabakh after Armenian displacement

Paul Hambardsumian
MEDYA News
Oct 30 2023

The Lemkin Institute of Genocide Prevention, a US-based non-governmental organisation, has expressed deep disappointment with a recent United Nations mission to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), following an Azerbaijani invasion and the forced displacement of the region’s Armenian population.

The Institute called for a more comprehensive and impartial assessment of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, criticising the timing, brevity and transparency of the mission.

“It is difficult to understand what the purpose of such a mission was and why there was never more pressure for Azerbaijan to allow a mission into Artsakh during Azerbaijan’s 9-month blockade of the region that led up to the invasion”, said the Institute in a written statement on Saturday. “If the United Nations is not going to take genocide seriously, it would be better if it sent no missions at all to regions that have experienced genocide”, they added.

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The aim of the UN mission was to assess the humanitarian needs both of the remaining population and of those displaced by the conflict, which resulted in the displacement of most of the Armenian population following the lightning offensive launched by Azerbaijan in the region on 20 September. This offensive eventually resulted in Azerbaijan taking control of Nagorno-Karabakh. Ethnic Armenians in the enclave had been defending the self-declared Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh for three decades.

The Lemkin Institute voiced concerns about the effectiveness of the mission, which was completed in a single day, raising doubts about the depth of the assessment. The mission was the first UN visit to the region in three decades.

Prior to this visit, international concerns had been raised about the safety of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, with the UN Security Council holding meetings and the International Court of Justice issuing several orders against Azerbaijan. The Lemkin Institute had issued several alerts warning of the high risk of genocide for Armenians in Artsakh, further emphasising the need for international intervention.

In its statement, the Lemkin Institute expressed scepticism about the credibility of the mission, citing discrepancies in population estimates, doubts about the damage assessment, and the limited scope of the mission.

The Institute further criticised the mission for failing to include representatives of the Armenian Mission to the UN and also for not visiting the Syunik region to speak with Armenian refugees.

The UN mission on 1 October reported no signs of violence against civilians following the latest ceasefire and expressed surprise at the abrupt evacuation of the local population, leaving between 50 and 1,000 ethnic Armenians in the Karabakh region.

https://medyanews.net/un-faces-scrutiny-over-mission-to-nagorno-karabakh-after-armenian-displacement/

Biden meets with top Chinese diplomat at White House

Paul Hambardsumian

 12:22,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. President Biden met Friday with China’s top diplomat at the White House ahead of a potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Hill reports.

''Biden met with Wang Yi, the foreign minister and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission, and the president “emphasized that both the United States and China need to manage competition in the relationship responsibly and maintain open lines of communication,” the White House said in a readout of the meeting. 

He underscored that the United States and China must work together to address global challenges,” the White House said.

Wang also met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and with national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Armenia-Canada relations based on common values – FM Mirzoyan

Paul Hambardsumian

 14:45,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, ARMENPRESS. The relations between Armenia and Canada are based on common values such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at a joint press conference with Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.

“This creates a broad field of cooperation for the benefit of strengthening democratic institutions and increasing welfare in Armenia. We are considering the possibilities of more active involvement of Canada with the purpose of expanding cooperation in trade and the economy. I must also mention interparliamentary dialogue and parliamentary diplomacy, which have always had an important place in our relations,” Mirzoyan said.

Mirzoyan also mentioned the Armenian community of Canada for its role in deepening the relations.

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects Turkish President’s words about Hamas

Paul Hambardsumian

 20:28,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, ARMENPRESS. Israel on Wednesday rejected Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's statement that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was "not a terrorist organization".

"Israel wholeheartedly rejects the Turkish president's harsh words about the terrorist organization Hamas," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat wrote on social media platform X.

"Even the Turkish president's attempt to defend the terrorist organization and his inciting words will not change the horrors that the whole world has seen," Haiat wrote.




Bodies of victims of Azeri attack in Nagorno-Karabakh have signs of torture and mutilation

Paul Hambardsumian

 15:24,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Bodies of the victims in Nagorno-Karabakh in the September 19-20 Azeri attack have signs of torture and mutilation, the Armenian Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan said on October 19.

She said that her preliminary report on the ill-treatment and torture was used in the ICJ by the Armenian government as evidence. The report found torture and mutilations on numerous bodies that were evacuated from NK to Armenia, including bodies of civilians, including women and children.

Speaking about the former NK officials who are now jailed in Azerbaijan, the Ombudsperson said that the rights of the ethnic Armenians of NK are being restricted with explicit violations of international legal standards. “First of all the presumption of innocence of these persons is violated on all levels in Azerbaijan, because they are branded as criminals from the very beginning, both on the state level and by specific individuals,” she said, adding that it is impossible to guarantee due process in Azerbaijan given the state-sanctioned Armenophobia there.

Prime Minister had a meeting with a group of MEPs

Paul Hambardsumian

 17:57,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a working lunch with memebers of the European Parliament.

The Prime Minister’s Office said among them were Chair of the Security and Defense Subcommittee of the European Parliament, Nathalie Loiseau,  co-rapporteur on Armenian affairs in the European Parliament, Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, Chair of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with the South Caucasus, Marina Kaljurand,  the permanent rapporteur on Armenian issues in the European Parliament, Andrei Kovachev, and others.

During the meeting the current humanitarian situation resulting from the forced displacement of over 100,000 Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, the regional situation, the further assisting steps by the international community, the developments taking place in the region, the process of regulating Armenia-Azerbaijan relations were discussed.

Thoughts were exchanged on Armenia-European Union cooperation and further development.

 



Secretary General meets Prime Minister of Armenia

Paul Hambardsumian
Council of Europe
Oct 17 2023

Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić has met with the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. The meeting focused on the developments in the region and the contribution of the Council of Europe, including in light of the recent visit by the Secretary General’s Special Representative on Migration and Refugees to Armenia.

The Secretary General reiterated how all those living in the Council of Europe geographical space are entitled to the full enjoyment of all human rights and freedoms as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Moreover, she highlighted the relevance of confidence-building measures (CBMs) for dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan with participation of NGOs, civil society, journalists and youth.

https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/secretary-general-meets-prime-minister-of-armenia

Putin proposes holding Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks in Moscow

Paul Hambardsumian
Oct 13 2023
Reuters | Bishkek
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Moscow was ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a peace deal and proposed holding talks in Moscow.

Azerbaijan restored control over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh last month with a 24-hour military operation which triggered the exodus of most of the territory's 120,000 ethnic Armenians to Armenia.

https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2628681-putin-proposes-holding-armenia-azerbaijan-peace-talks-in-moscow

After Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan eyes a strategic strip of Armenia

Paul Hambardsumian
Washington Post
Oct 11 2023

By Francesca Ebel

MEGHRI, Armenia — Outside the old Meghri train station in southern Armenia, a rusting locomotive, emblazoned with a fading emblem of the Soviet Union, sits on the tracks, as if still waiting for the passengers who stopped coming long ago.

The station’s overgrown courtyard and dilapidated waiting rooms were once filled with Armenians, Azerbaijanis and visitors from across the Soviet Union, traveling between Baku and Yerevan, or Moscow and Tehran. A modest cafeteria sold tea and snacks, and in summer, fruit sellers on the platform hawked persimmons and pomegranates, grown locally in the orchards that hug the valley.

Meghri sits at a strategic crossroads that regional powers, including Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey and Russia, are competing to access — prompting fears it could soon be at the center of a new war.

Located just north of the Aras River and the Iranian border, Meghri is hemmed in by Azerbaijani territory. To the east lies Azerbaijan proper, whose border with Armenia has been shut since 1991. Roughly six miles to the west lies Nakhchivan, a landlocked Azerbaijani exclave that Baku has long dreamed of connecting to its mainland. A sliver of Nakhchivan borders Turkey.

Azerbaijan calls Meghri, and the rest of Armenia’s Syunik province, the Zangezur corridor. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and other officials have described opening this corridor as a top objective — one that is now in direct focus following Baku’s recapture of the long-disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Zangezur corridor is a broken link in a longer, potentially highly lucrative east-west route called the “Middle Corridor” that would connect China and Central Asian countries to Turkey via Azerbaijan.

RUSSIA

Black

Sea

Caspian

Sea

GEORGIA

ARMEN.

AZER.

Baku

TURKEY

Map view from

this perspective

SYRIA

IRAQ

IRAN

200 MILES

Yerevan

Lake Sevan

IRAN

Aras R.

Nakhchivan

AZERBAIJAN

ARMENIA

Julfa

Mount Kaputjugh

12,814 feet

Goris

Lachin

Stepanakert

Meghri

AZERBAIJAN

IRAN

Aras R.

The Aras River defines the border between

Azerbaijan and Iran and is relatively flat along

both sides. However, the portion of the river

in Armenia is surrounded by mountains.

Horadiz

NORTH

Yerevan pledged to open transport routes to Baku as part of a 2020 cease-fire after a brief war in Nagorno-Karabakh. But since then, Armenian officials have balked, saying that any such arrangement would effectively be the occupation of Armenian territory.

Betrayed by Moscow, which failed to prevent Azerbaijan’s military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia now wants full control of the route. And it no longer wants Moscow’s security forces, who have guarded Meghri’s borders since the 1970s, involved.

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, is pressuring Yerevan for unfettered access to the corridor, aiming to reopen the old Soviet railroad from Baku to Nakhchivan, as well as a highway for cars. It has already begun constructing infrastructure in preparation for the route.

Russia failed to keep peace in Nagorno-Karabakh, pivoting away from Armenia

Aliyev has signaled that Baku would use force to seize the corridor if the 2020 deal is not upheld. “We will implement the Zangezur corridor, whether Armenia wants it or not,” he said in 2021.

“I think the threat of a flare-up is very real,” said Stefan Meister, a South Caucasus expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations. “The Azerbaijanis have a maximalist approach. … If they can take it, they will do it.”

Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe who specializes in the region, said there are “two competing visions for the same east-west route,” with Armenia backed by the West, and Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey aligned together.

“It is more likely that Baku and Moscow will jointly use all their pressure points on the Armenian government to coerce them to accept their plan,” de Waal said. “So this is shaping up into a real contest.”

Turkey and Russia, which would benefit from expanding transport links crossing Armenian territory, have backed Aliyev’s plans. Russia, especially, wants this southern route to circumvent Western sanctions. Moscow has been using Azerbaijan to continue selling oil despite import bans and a price cap regime coordinated by the Group of Seven nations.

But Iran, a powerful ally of Armenia and its only friendly neighbor, has strongly opposed the project, averse to any alterations to its border with Armenia. The proposed plan would hinder, if not disconnect, free trade and traffic between the two countries. It could also reduce profits from Iran’s gas contracts with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh last month, which prompted more than 100,000 of the region’s ethnic Armenian residents to flee, has raised concerns that Baku — which has stepped up its hawkish rhetoric — may use force to get its way in the transit corridor dispute.

It was war between Azerbaijan and Armenia that originally shuttered the Meghri station.

At its peak during the Soviet era, the station had 70 employees. Armenian and Azerbaijani residents lived side by side. One year, even one deputy mayor of Meghri was Azerbaijani.

But in 1992, with Armenia and Azerbaijan at war over Nagorno-Karabakh, revenge attacks escalated. A group of Azerbaijanis hijacked the train running from Yerevan to Kapan as it passed through Nakhchivan and took 12 wagons full of mostly Armenian passengers hostage for a week.

As official negotiations stalled, a group of men from Meghri took matters into their own hands. Climbing the high mountain paths to a radar station, they bribed a Russian border guard to let them cross into Nakhchivan. Then, disguised as Russians, they kidnapped a local man — a relative of an Azerbaijani official — who was exchanged for the 14 remaining passenger-hostages. Baku and Yerevan later signed an accord to safeguard passenger transport.

The next year, however, a rumor spread that Azerbaijanis had abducted a busload of Armenian passengers farther north. A lynch mob of angry Armenian residents gathered at the Meghri station. Thinking that Baku had violated the accord, Arman Davtyan, the deputy station director, halted the train.

“I gave the order to the duty officer to stop the incoming train,” Davtyan said in a recent interview, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth, “and by doing this, I very nearly risked an international crisis.”

After two days of talks to ensure locals would not ambush the passengers, the train departed from the station — one of the last to ever leave Meghri. The station closed a few months later, in 1993, along with the whole line from Baku to Nakhchivan.

But despite the railroad’s dark history, Davtyan — who worked at the station for 25 years — wants to see it reopened.

“My honest opinion as a railway employee is that it’s more in Armenia’s interests than Azerbaijan’s,” he said. “It would be very important for our economy.”

Meghri Mayor Bagrat Zakaryan, 40, said the local government would be willing to reopen the old railway.

“We understand the necessity of doing this, and it’s beneficial for us too,” Zakaryan said in an interview. “We cannot oppose the whole world. If we don’t compromise, people will turn away from us.” Still, he said, Armenia needed some guarantees. “Otherwise,” he said, “Baku will just take more and more, bit by bit.”

But, he said, a shared highway was risky.

“It is impossible for people to share the same road with those who have killed their children or relatives,” he said. “What if people want to take revenge? It’s a security issue.”

Indeed, many Meghri residents are skeptical of any plans to reopen transport.

“I don’t want this railway back again. We are living peacefully here without it. I don’t trust the Azerbaijanis,” said Silva Hovakian, 63, a retiree.

Marat Khachatryan, 70, a vegetable seller, remembers the old train line well. It would take 12 hours to get from his native Kapan to Yerevan. In those days, the train passed through Nakhchivan and, Khachatryan said, Azerbaijanis would sometimes throw stones at the windows.

“Once I was sitting in the carriage and a stone shattered the window and flew right past me — it was terrifying,” he said. “I always sat away from the windows after that.” He added: “Even though there was no war then, and it was communist rules and society; there was still a lot of hatred.”

“I don’t want the train line,” Khachatryan said. “We don’t need it. The Azerbaijanis could stop off in Meghri and just do whatever they want.”

Baku insists these fears are unfounded. Elin Suleymanov, Baku’s ambassador to Britain, said that those fearing Azerbaijani military action were living in “a paranoid dreamworld” and that Azerbaijan had no military objectives on Armenia’s territory.

Meanwhile, Davtyan, the station’s former deputy director, said that transit should not be blocked by politics. “Yes, you can expect anything from the Azerbaijanis,” Davtyan said. “But there are nations who have been enemies for centuries and who still have transport links. We have recognized borders. We have to believe in international law and order.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/11/azerbaijan-armenia-karabakh-nakhchivan-corridor/

Larnaca collections for Nagorno Karabakh refugees

Paul Hambardsumian
Cyprus Mail
Oct 10 2023
By Antigoni Pitta

Larnaca municipality on Tuesday announced the launch of a humanitarian campaign to aid refugees from Nagorno Karabakh, organised by the civil defence in collaboration with the foreign ministry.

An announcement said that the campaign, which aims to help people who fled Nagorno Karabakh for Armenia, will be active until Friday, October 13.

The collection point set up for Larnaca is the municipality’s multiuse space near Ayios Lazaros primary school on Phaneromeni avenue.

It will be open from 8.30am to 2.30pm, and can be reached at 99817979.

The public are asked to donate dry food such as cereal, biscuits, pasta, baby formula and baby food, as well as personal hygiene items and diapers for both children and adults.

All donations must be dropped off in cardboard boxes, while the announcement noted that anything straying from the above list will not be accepted.

Those wishing to donate money can do so at the bank account below:

 

ACCOUNT NAME HUMANITARIAN SUPPORT – ARMENIA

ACCOUNT NUMBER 6001034

CURRENCY EURO

The IBAN number is

PAPER FORMAT CY47 0010 0001 0000 0000 0600 1034

ELECTRONIC FORMAT CY47001000010000000006001034

SWIFT BIC CBCYCY2NXXX