16:40,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS.Stepanakert Branch of Converse Bank will reopen on 30.11.2020. The Branch will render comprehensive services to the customers on a regular basis from Monday to Friday, 9:30-17:00.
Converse Bank is a financial institution offering comprehensive banking services. The Bank is managed by Eduardo Eurnekian Group.
Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan has shared a video showing the Azerbaijani soldiers humiliating an elderly man, an ethnic Armenian, and subjecting him to overtly inhumane treatment with exceptional cynicism.
“They do it just because this person is an ethnic Armenian. Hatred in Azerbaijan is so systematic and is so highly encouraged by the state that these servicemen do not care that the person is helpless, that he is old, or has human dignity,” the Ombudsman said.
On the contrary, he said, they treat people this way and then largely spread videos or photos of this treatment through social networks to earn public praise and imaginary “heroism” in their own society.
“One important fact: this act is not a separate crime committed by a group of soldiers, but an integral part of the system of large-scale torture and atrocities, cruelties during the September-November 2020 war being encouraged at high levels in Azerbaijan,” Arman Tatoyan said.
According to him “this is another evidence of Azerbaijani systematic policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide through terroristic methods in Artsakh.”
“Such acts are not only absolutely forbidden under all internationally requirements known to humanity, but they do not even fit into the human imagination,” the Ombudsman noted.
The Human Rights Defenders of Armenia and Artsakh will duly document this evidence and present it to the international bodies.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on November 16 said that Armenia would be held responsible for the destruction of infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh region. Aliyev visited the Fuzuli and Jabrayil districts, which came under the control of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. In a televised speech, he said that Armenia has to answer for all the destruction and added that international experts will be involved and they will demand compensation for 30 years.
“The enemy destroyed the entire infrastructure. They will answer for everything in an international court. I said and I want to repeat again that international structures, experts will be involved, all the damage will be calculated, and we will demand compensation for 30 years. These days they destroyed Kalbajar, houses, forests. They will also answer for all this,” Azerbaijani President said.
Aliyev’s statement comes after the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a joint statement on complete cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. As per statement, Armenia and Azerbaijan stop at their occupied positions, a number of districts come under Baku’s control, the sides exchange prisoners, and Russian peacekeepers are deployed along the contact line and the Lachin corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
READ: Azerbaijan Agrees To Give Armenians Until November 25 To Withdraw Its Troops From Kalbajar
READ: Armenia Arrests Ex-intel Boss For Allegedly Planning PM Pashinyan's Assassination
Armenian leader Nikol Pashinyan, in an emotional social media post, had said the agreement would be effective from Tuesday, November 10 and will end the six weeks of fierce fighting that has left hundreds of people dead. Defining the decision as 'unspeakably painful' for him and the people, Pashinyan said he took it after an in-depth analysis of the military situation that has seen Azeri forces make major gains and close in on Stepanakert, the region’s main city. Adding further Pashinyan said the agreement was the best possible solution to the current situation.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the latest agreement, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan resigned from office on November 16. Mnatsakanyan's departure was announced by the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson on social media amid rising pressure on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to exit. The Armenian Foreign Minister's resignation comes just days after a cease-fire in the region that was occupied by Armenia for nearly three decades. The end in fighting is widely considered a victory for Azerbaijan.
READ: Villagers In Nagorno-Karabakh Torch Homes As They Flee To Armenia In Mass Exodus
READ: Armenia Ministry Says 2,317 Servicemen Dead In Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
13:09,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The citizens of Artsakh who were evacuated to Armenia during the war are already returning to their homes.
11 passenger buses provided by the Yerevan City Hall are transporting a group of residents back to Stepanakert City from the Armenian capital.
Artsakh residents from Stepanakert and Martuni had gathered near the Yerevan City Hall to board the buses.
Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan had told the President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan that the Armenian capital will provide the transportation.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
A boy holding a National Armenian flag marches with others from Pan Pacific Park to the Consulate General of Turkey, during an October protest in L.A. in support of Armenia amid the territorial dispute with Azerbaijan. (Kyle Grillot/AFP via Getty Images)
Earlier this week, Armenia and Azerbaijan announced an agreement to end the fighting over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians refer to as Artsakh. Although the region is inside Azerbaijan's borders, mostly ethnic Armenians live there.
But there is still a dispute: Over the last two months, Azerbaijan's military has gained control of more territory. The peace agreement basically locks in some of those gains — and costs Armenia control of some other territory as well.
Russian peacekeepers will be deployed to maintain the deal. Armenia's prime minister Nikol Pashinyan called the decision to end the conflict painful but necessary — and in Armenia's capital, Yerevan, thousands took to the streets to protest the agreement, saying "We will not give up our land!" Protesters in Armenia upset over the deal have been calling the prime minister a "traitor" and demanding his resignation.
Meanwhile, as reported this week, some ethnic Armenians in the territory that will change hands are preparing to leave their homes.
These developments are being closely followed in Southern California's large Armenian American community, where disappointment over the terms of the deal is also deeply felt.
“Within the Armenian community, there is an overwhelming sense of abandonment," said Alex Galitsky, communications director with the Armenian National Committee of America's western region. "For months, the Armenian diaspora has called on the United States and the international community to confront Turkey and Azerbaijan's aggression to prevent their efforts to continue the Armenian genocide. Repeatedly those calls fell on deaf ears, even as Azerbaijan perpetrated war crimes and major human rights violations against the Armenians of Artsakh."
Salpi Ghazarian, director of USC's Institute of Armenian Studies, spoke with KPCC's Take Two about how the conflict has resonated locally.
"This community, particularly here in Southern California, everybody is somehow connected," Ghazarian said. "Everybody knows, has, someone — an uncle, a cousin, a someone — who went to fight, who died…so it has not been a distant war by any means. Somebody called it 'the war that came to Los Angeles.' That is kind of what this has become."
The news that Turkey was backing Azerbaijan was also deeply disturbing for local Armenian Americans, many of whom are descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, in which as many as 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives at the hands of the Ottoman Empire starting in 1915.
Last month, Armenian Americans held large rallies around Los Angeles in support of Armenia, including one that drew an estimated 100,000 people. Some Angelenos even traveled to Armenia to join the effort or provide medical and other support.
17:36,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says there are no plans to expand the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship format.
“About 10 countries are a member to the Minsk Group, including also Turkey. The Minsk Group is regularly listening to the reports of the Co-Chairs, and each member of the Group has a right to express its opinion and present proposals. The Co-Chairs should pay attention to the position of those members of the Group that gave them the respective powers. There is no plan to expand the Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ format – Russia, US and France”, the Russian FM said during a press conference.
Lavrov said they are in constant touch with the remaining Co-Chair countries, informing that he had a talk to the French foreign minister on November 11. “My staff are in contact with the representatives of the US side who ensure the work of the US co-chairmanship on the Nagorno Karabakh issue. We are expecting the Co-Chairs in Moscow next week”, the Russian FM said.
He added that they will present in-detail the deployment process of peacekeepers in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone to the Co-Chairs. “Probably, we will consult on how we are going to contribute to the establishment of a peaceful life, taking into account the rights of all ethno-confessional communities in and around Nagorno Karabakh”, he said.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
“Shushi stands and will stand, glory to our army!”
Armenia’s assistant deputy defense minister Grisha Aghajanyan wrote on Facebook.
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20:54, 5 November, 2020
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas held a telephone conversation, during which they changed views on Nagorno Karabakh conflict, ARMENPRESS reports the Foreign Ministry of Russia informed.
It's mentioned that the sides emphasized the necessity of implementation of the agreements reached between the Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani FMs on October 10.
Tuesday,
Russian, Turkish Leaders Again Discuss Karabakh
• Heghine Buniatian
RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan
shake hands during a news conference following their talks in Moscow, March 5,
2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced serious concern about the ongoing war
over Nagorno-Karabakh and what he called a growing involvement of “terrorists
from the Middle East” in it when he spoke with his Turkish counterpart Recep
Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.
A statement by the Kremlin said Putin and Erdogan discussed the conflicts in
Syria, Libya and Karabakh during the phone conversation.
“The Russian side expressed deep concern over continuing hostilities [in and
around Karabakh] as well as the increasingly large-scale involvement of
terrorists from the Middle East in the armed clashes,” the statement said.
It added that Putin briefed Erdogan on his contacts with the leaders of Armenia
and Azerbaijan and efforts to “promptly achieve a ceasefire and de-escalation of
the crisis.”
Erdogan called Putin shortly after Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia and
Mevlut Cavusoglu of Turkey again spoke by phone. They too discussed
international efforts to stop the Karabakh hostilities.
“The ministers emphasized the absence of alternatives to a peaceful resolution
of the conflict, the need for an immediate ceasefire and the resumption of a
negotiating process within existing mechanisms of the OSCE Minsk Group,” read a
statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“They particularly noted the inadmissibility of internationalization of the
crisis and involvement of foreign militants in it,” it said.
Turkey has strongly backed Azerbaijan’s military operations since the outbreak
of the war in and around Karabakh on September 27. It has rebuffed calls for an
immediate halt to the hostilities repeatedly made by the United States, Russia
and France, saying that Baku has a legitimate right to restore control over
Karabakh by military means.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip has accused the three world powers co-heading the
Minsk Group of supplying weapons to Armenia. Russian officials have rejected
Erdogan’s allegations.
For their part, the U.S. and especially France have criticized Turkey’s role in
the ongoing military conflict. The French government said last week that
Ankara’s “dangerous provocations” are hampering the mediators’ efforts to stop
the fighting and restart Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks.
Turkish leaders have also called for Ankara’s involvement in the peace process
that has long been mediated by the U.S., Russia and France. A spokesman for
Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated on Tuesday that this cannot happen
without Armenia’s consent.
Armenia has always ruled out any Turkish mediation. It maintains that Turkey is
directly involved in the Karabakh war by providing weapons and Turkish military
personnel to Azerbaijan.
Yerevan has also accused Ankara of recruiting Islamist fighters in Syria and
sending them to fight in Karabakh on the Azerbaijani side. These claims have
been echoed by France and, implicitly, by Russia. The Turkish and Azerbaijani
governments deny them.
U.S. Tells Armenia, Azerbaijan To Stick To Ceasefire (UPDATED)
U.S. - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference at the
State Department, in Washington, October 14, 2020.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Armenia and Azerbaijan on Tuesday to
respect a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States over the weekend.
Pompeo separately spoke by phone with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev amid continuing fighting in and around
Nagorno-Karabakh reported by the two warring sides.
“Secretary Pompeo pressed the leaders to abide by their commitments to cease
hostilities and pursue a diplomatic solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, and noted that there is no
military solution to this conflict,” Morgan Ortagus, the U.S. State Department
spokeswoman, said in in a statement.
According to Ortagus, Pompeo “stressed the importance of fully implementing the
ceasefire” which was initially agreed in Moscow on October 10 and reaffirmed
under French mediation on October 17.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers reached another truce agreement
after holding talks with Pompeo and U.S. National Security Advisor Robert
O’Brien in Washington last Friday. They went on to hold a joint meeting on
Saturday with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and U.S., Russian
and French diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group.
The conflicting parties began accusing each other of ceasefire violations
shortly after their fresh accord went into force on Monday morning. In
particular, the Armenian side accused the Azerbaijani army of launching a
“large-scale” offensive in southeastern Karabakh.
Later on Tuesday U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged that the ceasefire is
not holding. According to Reuters, Trump expressed optimism that the two sides
will work things out but offered no other details.
“Yes, disappointing when you see that,” he told reporters at the White House.
“That’s what happens when you have...countries that have been going at it for a
long time. It’ll get back together.”
Pashinian said on Monday that he expects Washington to hold Azerbaijan
responsible for the collapse of the ceasefire. He claimed that Baku is
continuing to push for a military victory in the war despite what he described
as Yerevan’s readiness for a compromise-based solution to the Karabakh conflict.
Meanwhile, Aliyev blamed Armenia for the continuing hostilities. He also accused
the U.S., Russian and French mediators of helping the Armenian side.
In a joint statement issued on Sunday, the Minsk Group co-chairs said they and
the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers agreed to meet again in Geneva on
October 29. They said they will try to “reach agreement on, and begin
implementation, in accordance with a timeline to be agreed upon, of all steps
necessary to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in
accordance with the basic principles accepted by the leaders of Azerbaijan and
Armenia.”
It is not yet clear whether the Geneva talks will go ahead if the fighting in
the conflict zone does not stop.
Aliyev Again Denies Presence Of Foreign Fighters In Azerbaijan
• Heghine Buniatian
AZERBAIJAN -- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev gestures as he speaks during an
address to the nation in Baku,
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has criticized France and Russia for their
“baseless” claims that Turkey recruited scores of Islamist fighters and deployed
to them Azerbaijan for the war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I regret that such baseless accusations are voiced from the [OSCE Minsk Group]
co-chair countries, France and Russia,” he told Italy’s Rai-1 broadcaster in an
interview publicized on Tuesday.
Aliyev singled out French President Emmanuel Macron and Russia’s foreign
intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, for criticism.
Shortly after the outbreak of large-scale hostilities in and around Karabakh on
September 27 Macron accused Turkey of recruiting jihadist fighters from Syria
for the Azerbaijani army.
Russia also expressed serious concern about the deployment of “terrorists and
mercenaries” from Syria and Libya in the Karabakh conflict zone. Naryshkin
warned on October 6 that the region could become a “launch pad” for Islamist
militants to enter Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign and defense ministers have
raised the matter with their Turkish counterparts in phone calls reported in
recent weeks.
Ankara strongly denies sending members of Turkish-backed groups to fight in
Karabakh on Azerbaijan’s side. Baku also denies the presence of such mercenaries
in the Azerbaijani army ranks.
Multiple reports by Western media have quoted members of Islamist rebel groups
in areas of northern Syria under Turkish control as saying over the past month
that they are deploying to Azerbaijan in coordination with the Turkish
government.
Armenia has portrayed those reports as further proof of Turkey’s direct
involvement in the ongoing war.
Fighting Reported Near Armenian-Iranian Border
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A fragment of a Smerch rocket sticks out of the ground near
the town of Martuni,
Fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone reportedly spread on Tuesday to
an area adjacent to Armenia’s border with Iran.
The Armenian Defense Ministry accused the Azerbaijani army of shelling its
border posts and wounding several Armenian servicemen in the morning. The
Azerbaijani side used artillery and combat drones, it said, adding that one of
those unmanned aerial vehicles was shot down over Armenian territory.
A ministry spokeswoman, Shushan Stepanian, said Armenian army units and border
guards had to strike back in response. They inflicted “considerable losses” on
the Azerbaijani side, she wrote on Facebook early in the afternoon.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry denied violating in the ceasefire in that area.
It said that Armenian forces themselves opened “intense mortar fire” at its
troops stationed in the Zangelan district bordering Armenia’s southeastern
Syunik province and northwestern Iran.
The reported shelling took place near the Armenian-Iranian frontier which has
long been protected by Russian border guards.
Russia also has up to 5,000 soldiers stationed in other parts of Armenia in line
with bilateral treaties that commit Moscow to defending Yerevan against foreign
aggression.
Shortly after the outbreak of the war in and around Karabakh on September 27,
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow will fulfill its defense
obligations to its South Caucasus ally. He noted at the same time that “the
hostilities are not being carried out on the territory of Armenia.”
The hostilities continued on the Karabakh frontlines on Tuesday, with the
warring sides continuing to accuse each other of not respecting another
Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire agreement that was brokered by the United States
over the weekend.
It emerged that the commander of Karabakh’s Armenia-backed Defense Army,
Lieutenant-General Jalal Harutiunian, was replaced by another general, Mikael
Arzumanian, late on Monday after being reportedly wounded in action.
Karabakh authorities did not specify the circumstances in which Harutiunian
suffered the injuries. They said that his life is not at risk.
The Defense Army army claimed to have repelled on Monday a “large-scale”
Azerbaijani offensive in southeastern Karabakh which it said was launched just
hours after the entry into force of the U.S.-brokered truce agreement.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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