Author: Vardan Badalian

Bodies of 41 more troops found in Fizuli and Jabrayil sections – Artsakh State Emergency Service

Vardan Badalian

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STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. Bodies of 41 more Armenians servicemen have been found during the search operations in Fizuli and Jabrayil sections, the Artsakh State Emergency Service told Armenpress.

“So far, a total of 933 dead servicemen have been found. Today 5 search groups continue operations in three directions – Jabrayil, Fizuli and Hadrut. Families of missing servicemen and persons who are familiar with the location of military operations also participate in the search operations”, representative of the Artsakh State Emergency Service Hunan Tadevosyan said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Asbarez: House Foreign Affairs Leaders Say Ankara Undermines NATO Alliance

Vardan Badalian

December 16,  2020



House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (left) and Lead Republican Michael McCaul

WASHINGTON—House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel and Lead Republican Michael McCaul have released a statement on their deep concern over Turkey’s actions under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that endanger the NATO alliance, the broader region, and democracy and the rule of law in Turkey.

“We are gravely concerned by the threat Turkey’s increasingly provocative behavior poses to our decades-long bilateral relationship, to the NATO alliance, and to the region more broadly,” said Engel and McCaul.

While we continue to see real value in a strong U.S.-Turkey relationship, its destabilizing actions need to be more strongly addressed and the United States must work with its European and NATO allies and partners to continue to use all of the tools at their disposal to demand that Turkey reverse course. We strongly urge President Erdogan to put an end to Turkey’s provocative behavior so the United States and Turkey can once again enjoy a close and cooperative relationship built on mutual security interests, a strong commitment to NATO, and shared democratic values,” added the two Foreign Affairs Committee leaders.

“House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel and Lead Republican Michael McCaul unnecessarily hedge their criticism of Turkey by using the word ‘reportedly’ to qualify Turkey’s well-documented recruitment of foreign terrorist fighters to attack Artsakh,” said Armenian National Committee America Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

“Sadly, the rest of this statement – which does raise a series of very troubling Turkish offenses – is framed in terms of bringing Turkey back into the NATO fold – years after Erdogan stormed away from the alliance.  This fundamentally mistaken mindset among U.S. policy-makers must end. Turkey today is not an ally to be managed – with relentless excuses and endless appeasement – but rather an openly announced adversary that must be forcefully and firmly confronted,” added Hamparian.

Recent actions of concern by Turkey under President Erdogan include:

  • President Erdogan’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile defense system compromises NATO interoperability and undermines the alliance’s collective defense pledge, which demands our militaries and armaments can work together in the face of the threat posed by Russia. It also allows Vladimir Putin to continue to sow division in the alliance.
  • Turkey’s military operation in northeast Syria risked reversing critical gains by the United States and our local partners in the ongoing counter-ISIS fight and exacerbated the existing humanitarian crisis. Even now, Turkish-supported groups in northern Syria are accused of committing egregious human rights violations.
  • President Erdogan has also fanned the flames of other global conflicts, reportedly sending Syrian mercenaries to Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh.
  • In the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey has surveyed for hydrocarbon resources in disputed waters also claimed by Greece, a NATO member, and Cyprus, a key transatlantic partner and EU member.
  • Erdogan has openly hosted Hamas terrorists in Turkey, including individuals designated by the United States for their terrorist activities.
  • At home, Erdogan’s government has undermined Turkey’s democratic institutions by consolidating his own power, undermining the independence of Turkey’s judiciary, and rolling back the democratic rights and freedoms of the Turkish people, including by targeting locally-employed staff at U.S. Consulates with baseless criminal charges.



Azerbaijan continues to openly preach hatred and animosity towards ethnic Armenians – Ombudsman

Vardan Badalian
Panorama, Armenia

Dec 17 2020

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan insists the highest authorities of Azerbaijan continue to openly preach hatred and animosity towards ethnic Armenians. Tatoyan has presented evidence on his Facebook. 

"1. The President of Azerbaijan continues to generate hatred towards the entire Armenian people with his public speeches, to make threats against the entire population of Armenia, to make insulting and hateful expressions.

2. In particular, during the military event held in Baku on December 10, 2020, the President of Azerbaijan delivered a public speech full of open threats of genocide addressed to the entire people of Armenia, as well as systemic hatred. During the same event, the President of Turkey had a public speech with more open threats addressed to lives of the entire people of Armenia praising the organizers and perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide.

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia has already presented the very dangerous consequences of these two speeches not only for the people of Armenia, but also for the international human rights system in his public statement of the same day.

3. It is especially condemnable that after those speeches, the President of Azerbaijan made similar statements during the December 12, 2020 meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group France and the US Co-Chairs, i.e. not for the domestic, but for the international audience in presence of international figures.

4. The speech of the President of Azerbaijan of December 12, 2020 is full of expressions inciting hatred and animosity towards Armenians, open threats of mass violence against Armenians.

In particular, he mentioned in the part of that speech concerning Armenia. "(…) if Armenian fascism once again raises its head, we will crush its head with an iron fist." Moreover, this was done with special reference to the speech of the President of Azerbaijan during the military event held on December 10 in the capital of Azerbaijan.

The President of Azerbaijan also stated. "We gave such a response that destroyed the Armenian army and we can even say the Armenian state (…). "We dispelled the dreams of the so-called “Artsakh” of the Armenian nationalists."

5. The same speech used profound expressions of ethnicity towards Armenians, including those that generated hatred on religious grounds.

6. Afterwards, the President of Azerbaijan in his same speech of December 12, 2020 stated that open threats of his speech addressed to the entire people of Armenia should be conveyed to Armenians by the international community. And this was made in the presence of international figures and by a public speech.

7. The rhetorics sowing hatred and animosity are clear continuation of the previous public statements and speeches of the President of Azerbaijan. For example, in one case he stated that "Armenia is a country of no value. It is actually a colony, an outpost run from abroad”. In another case, Armenians were called wild beasts and predators. At the same time, speeches of the Azerbaijanի President on Armenia and the Armenian people constantly contain words of "Armenian fascism" and it is done to insult the Armenian people and incite hatred towards Armenians among the people of Azerbaijan.

8. Studies of Armenia’s Human Rights Defender's Office, collected evidence confirm that after such speeches of the President of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani mass media and social networks are filled with similar expressions of hatred and animosity not only towards the people of Armenia, but towards all Armenians in general.

9. According to the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, these are the exact speeches that have been made over the years in Azerbaijan and by this an institutional system of propaganda of hatred and animosity towards Armenians on the basis of ethnicity, open promotion of impunity and state supported hatred at the highest level has been established.

State encouragement for killing Armenians in Azerbaijan has reached such a level that even the country's Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) has publicly stated that Ramil Safarov, who brutally killed an Armenian solider with ax during a night in a European Union member state,  must become an example of patriotism for youth of Azerbaijan.

10. Such speeches are a direct reasons for the war crimes and the crimes against humanity committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces in September-November 2020 that do not even fit into the human imagination.

11. The expert examinations of videos of atrocities by the experts of the Human Rights Defender's Office of Armenia have confirmed that Azerbaijani soldiers use the same expressions of the President of Azerbaijan as inspiration when torturing or killing Armenian soldiers or civilians, cutting off the parts of bodies of killed Armenians.

All above mentioned is confirmed by real and concrete evidence obtained by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia.

12. Therefore, the mentioned speeches of the President of Azerbaijan directly confirm the war crimes and atrocities committed by the Azerbaijani military forces during the wars of April 2016, September 2020-November and in other periods and still continue.

These speeches also confirm that the described actions envisaged by international criminal law are results of an organized state policy of Azerbaijan, which clearly proves the Azerbaijani policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide through terroristic methods in Artsakh.

13. It is of particular concern for the Human Rights Defender of Armenia that the President of Azerbaijan delivered his speech full of insults and animosity towards the Armenian people in the presence of international figures on December 12, 2020, and surprisingly he has not been condemned by any of these figures or even their disagreement.

14. The Human Rights Defender of Armenia is convinced that such indifference of the international community in response to the hatred and animosity propaganda is one of the main preconditions that has led to systematic and widespread torture and cruelties of Armenians by the Azerbaijani military in Artsakh.

15. Such extremely dangerous phenomena must be strongly condemned by the international community.

It must be borne in mind that all the above mentioned violates basic principles of international law and undermines the entire international system of human rights and humanitarian protection.

16. Impunity creates new atrocities and torture.

17. The international community and particularly international organizations with mandates to protect human rights must prove that they are dedicated to their titles and missions that they still adhere to the international rules they have established.

18. The reason for this statement of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia on the mentioned extremely dangerous phenomena for human rights is related to the necessity to document, analyze and to submit to the international community the gross violations of right to life, property and other rights of Armenians grossly violated by the Azerbaijani armed forces.

This is due to the fact that these violations have long-term or lifelong negative consequences for their victims (lifelong disability, physical and mental suffering of victims of torture and their families, etc.)," Tatoyan wrote. 



SONGS OF SOLOMON is Armenia’s Official Submission for the 93rd Academy Awards

Vardan Badalian
Broadway World
Dec 15 2020


by TV News Desk


Amidst a time of war, Armenia has proudly announced that Arman Nshanian's (in his feature film directorial debut) visually arresting and emotionally stirring historical drama SONGS OF SOLOMON as its official submission to the 93rd Academy Awards in the International Feature Film category.

Written by Audrey Gevorkian, based on the true story "The Past Unsung" by Sirvart Kavoukjian, a film that explores the life of iconic composer Komitas, who's impact on ethnomusicology still prevails to this day while addressing the first genocide of the 20th century.

Released on November 26, 2020 in Armenia, SONGS OF SOLOMON resonates even louder today in light of the September 2020 invasion of Armenian inhabited Nagorno- Karabakh at the hands of Azerbaijan and Turkish forces. The filmmakers hope is that the picture will not only act as a cathartic experience to all Armenians, but also touch and educate us all to help eliminate such atrocities from ever occurring again anywhere in the world.

SONGS OF SOLOMON stars Samvel Tadevossian, Arevik Gevorgyan, Tatev Hovakimyan, Sos Janibekyan, Arman Nshanian, Artashes Aleksanyan and Jean-Pier Nshanian And introduces three wonderful child actors: Slava Seyranyan, Iren Ayvazyan, Mery Hovsepyan.

The feature is produced by two-time Oscar Winner (for Green Book) Nick Vallelonga of Vallelonga Productions and Hollywood based Producer Asko Akopyan of Oscar Gold Productions. Arman Nshanian Produced under his People of Ar Production Company in association with AnEva Productions in Armenia. Karo Kavoukjian serves as Executive Producer.

Inspired by true events, this is a film about a childhood friendship, torn apart by the horrific Hamidian massacres infiltrated by the Ottoman Empire. A brave Turkish woman at a time of dire prejudice risks her own life and the life of her family to save her best friend who is hunted down for her religious beliefs. This epic portrayal spans from 1881 to 1915, Constantinople, taking us on an emotional journey to the last concert given by Archbishop Komitas. A biographical film which takes place on the backdrop of the sacred and ancient music of Archbishop Solomon, also known as Komitas.

Armenia is proud to put SONGS OF SOLOMON into the Oscar race as its official entry for the 93rd Academy Awards – and thinks it could go the distance this year.



https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/SONGS-OF-SOLOMON-is-Armenias-Official-Submission-for-the-93rd-Academy-Awards-20201215


Dec. 15, 2020  

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 12/11/2020

Vardan Badalian 
                                        Friday, 

Armenian President, Speaker Discuss Political Crisis


Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian (R) and parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan 
meet in Yerevan, .

President Armen Sarkissian met with a key political ally of Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian on Friday after discussing mounting political tensions in Armenia with 
his two predecessors critical of the current government.

Sarkissian’s press office said he and parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan 
“exchanged thoughts on the current situation in the country and spoke about 
possible ways of resolving it.”

A statement by the Armenian parliament said the two men discussed the domestic 
political situation and each other’s “visions for resolving a number of issues.” 
It too did not elaborate.

Sarkissian held similar consultations with former Presidents Robert Kocharian 
and Serzh Sarkisian earlier this week. All three men publicly called on 
Pashinian to resign as prime minister and pave the way for fresh parliamentary 
elections following the Russian-mediated ceasefire that stopped the war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10.

Kocharian has been particularly scathing about Pashinian’s handling of the war 
that resulted in heavy Armenian casualties and territorial losses. He has 
encouraged his supporters to participate in ongoing anti-government protests 
staged by opposition parties.

Pashinian has rejected opposition demands for his resignation, the formation of 
an interim government and the holding of snap parliamentary elections. At the 
same time he signaled through some of his allies readiness to discuss with the 
opposition the possibility of such a vote.

Mirzoyan was beaten up and severely injured early on November 10 as angry mobs 
attacked and ransacked key state buildings in Yerevan following the announcement 
of the ceasefire agreement. The 41-year-old speaker, who is a leading member of 
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, underwent several surgeries as a result.

Sarkissian again strongly condemned the beating and said “any manifestation of 
violence” is unacceptable. According to his office, the president also called on 
Armenian political actors to show “restraint” and avoid violent actions or calls 
for violence.

The parliament statement likewise said that Sarkissian and Mirzoyan spoke out 
against any violent methods of political struggle.



Yerevan Seeks End To Russian Entry Ban For Armenians


RUSSIA -- A passenger waits at a coronavirus testing station at the Vnukovo 
airport in Moscow, October 8, 2020

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Friday again called on Russia to lift a 
coronavirus-related entry ban for Armenian nationals which has aggravated 
Armenia’s economic problems.

The Russian government banned the entry of visitors from many foreign countries 
this spring in a bid to contain the coronavirus pandemic. A few months later it 
allowed citizens of some of those countries, including all other members of the 
Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) except Armenia, to visit Russia.

The ban directly affected tens of thousands of Armenian migrant workers earning 
a living in Russia on a seasonal or permanent basis. Many of them had to return 
to Armenia following lockdown restrictions imposed across Russia in March.

Most migrant workers have had trouble finding jobs in Armenia since then. The 
Armenian economy is on course to contract by at least 7 percent this year due to 
the pandemic and the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Armenian government has repeatedly pressed Moscow to lift the ban in recent 
months. Russian officials have yet to publicly say when that could happen.

Pashinian raised the matter at a virtual summit of EEU leaders held on Friday.

“Unfettered cargo and passenger traffic with the other countries of the Union is 
of fundamental importance to us,” Pashinian told the presidents of Russia, 
Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

“Restrictions are especially sensitive in this area, and the creation of 
conditions for lifting the bans on the entry of Armenian citizens into a number 
of EEU member states is therefore imperative now,” he said.


Armenia -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian attends a virtual summit of 
the Eurasian Economic Union from Yerevan, .

All of those ex-Soviet states have been hit hard by the pandemic. The Armenian 
authorities have confirmed over 146,000 COVID-19 cases and 2,445 deaths caused 
by them in the country of about 3 million. The real number of cases is believed 
to be much higher.

Pashinian also reiterated his calls for the creation of a single energy market 
that would lower the cost of Russian natural gas imported by Armenia and other 
EEU member states.

The gas price is currently significantly lower for consumers in Russia than 
other ex-Soviet states making up the trade bloc. Armenia and Belarus want Moscow 
to agree to uniform EEU energy tariffs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected the idea at an EEU summit in May, 
implying that Yerevan and Minsk should agree first to even deeper economic 
integration with Moscow which would result in a “single budget and system of 
taxation” for all EEU member states.



Government’s Resignation Nonnegotiable For Tsarukian’s Party

        • Naira Nalbandian

Armenia -- Opposition supporters demonstrate in Yerevan to demand Prme Minister 
Nikol Pashinian's resignation, .

The resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his cabinet remains a 
necessary condition for holding fresh parliamentary elections in Armenia, Gagik 
Tsarukian’s opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) insisted on Friday.

A senior member of the BHK’s parliamentary group, the second largest in the 
National Assembly, stood by opposition claims that Pashinian’s government has 
lost its legitimacy as a result of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“A government solely associated with defeat, loss of lands and capitulation 
cannot organize and hold pre-term parliamentary elections,” said Iveta Tonoyan.

“I do realize that the authorities could take that step … and use their 
administrative resources to achieve [electoral] victory and retain power. But I 
repeat that we have only one political agenda now: the change of the government 
and only then the conduct of fresh parliamentary elections under a new prime 
minister,” she told reporters.

The BHK is part of a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties staging 
street protests and demanding that Pashinian hand over power to an interim 
government tasked with holding the snap elections within a year.

The prime minister and his political team reject the opposition demands. Still, 
a senior member of the ruling My Step bloc indicated on Thursday that the 
country’s leadership is ready to discuss with the opposition the possibility of 
fresh polls.

Both the BHK and the Bright Armenia Party (LHK), the second and more moderate 
parliamentary opposition force, said they have received no such offers from My 
Step yet.

LHK leader Edmon Marukian signaled his readiness to hold election-related talks 
with the authorities.

“If they are talking about holding the elections after enacting a [new] 
Electoral Code there should certainly be discussions because the rules of the 
game must be clear to all players,” Marukian told a news conference.

“I don’t know who will hold the pre-term elections but I predict that they will 
take place after six months at the latest,” he said.


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

Turkish Press: Azerbaijan rejects French Senate’s Karabakh decision

Vardan Badalian
Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Dec 4 2020
Azerbaijan rejects French Senate's Karabakh decision

Ruslan Rehimov   | 04.12.2020

BAKU, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan in a diplomatic note on Friday protested the French National Assembly's approval of a resolution on Karabakh on Thursday.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry summoned French Ambassador to Baku Zacharie Gross, and gave him a diplomatic note on the Senate's decision, the ministry said in a statement.

The decision is against international norms, principles, and law as well as relevant UN resolutions, the ministry noted, adding that Azerbaijan strongly objected to the decision.

On Nov. 26, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry had given another diplomatic note to the French envoy over the so-called resolution which urged the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as "a republic".

Relations between the former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

When new clashes erupted Sept. 27, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation.

The two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement Nov. 10 to end fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.

The truce is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces have been withdrawing in line with the agreement.

*Writing by Burak Bir

Our salvation is in national unity and accord, Armenia’s President says on 32nd anniversary of earthquake

Vardan Badalian
Public Radio of Armenia

Dec 7 2020

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian says we have no right to despair even in these challenging times. In an address on the 32nd anniversary of the 1988 earthquake, the President calls for national accord and unity.

Below is the President’s full address:

Dear people of Gyumri, Spitak, Vanadzor, Stepanavan,

Dear compatriots,

Today is the day of remembrance of the 1988 earthquake victims.

This year we commemorate the memory of thousands of our compatriots who fell victim to the devastating earthquake 32 years ago, having one more pain in our souls. As a result of the war waged by Azerbaijan and Turkey against Artsakh, we have a large number of human losses, we have also lost a part of the territory of Artsakh. As a result, there is a multi-layered crisis in the country, from moral and psychological to health to socio-economic.

I once again express my condolences and support to the families and relatives of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery.

Even in this situation we have no right to despair. We must do everything to heal the wounds of the earthquake, to put more effort and energy into the reconstruction and development of our towns and villages.

In the aftermath of the earthquake and today’s war and the pain caused, the internal political unrest in our country has increased these days. Here, too, we have no right to despair or give in to emotions.

Our salvation is in national accord and unity. Certainly, it was thanks to that that we were able to rise from the ruins of the 1988 earthquake, and today we must come out of the situation united. For the sake of our heroes who died in the war, for the sake of our compatriots who fell victim to the 1988 earthquake.

I bow to the memory of all of them and wish health, endurance and perseverance to their families and all of you, as well as peace and prosperity to our country.




The Minsk Group: Karabakh War’s Diplomatic Casualty (Part One)

Vardan Badalian
Jamestown Foundation
Dec 7 2020

November 25, 2020 04:09 PM Age: 2 weeks

The 44-day war between Armenia and Azerbaijan (September 27–November 9) has resulted in an Azerbaijani national triumph, a Russian geopolitical and diplomatic victory over the West, and a conclusive discrediting of multilateral diplomacy as an instrument for conflict-resolution in and around the post-Soviet space (see EDM, November 12, 13, 17). The discrediting is conclusive simply because this instrument has run out of places in which to fail in former Soviet and nearby territories where Russia is involved. The West has tried multilateral diplomacy only to be defeated at its own game in Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Syria, and now in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Karabakh.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group was instituted in 1992 and activated in 1994, with a mandate to promote a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict through negotiation and mediation (Osce.org, accessed November 23). (The Group was supposed to convene and act in Minsk but never did so, regardless of which it kept that official name ever since.)

Its structure includes the Minsk Conference (from 1992 onward), comprised of about a dozen OSCE states with a purely symbolic role; and (from 1997 onward) the triple co-chairmanship comprised of Russia, the United States and France (the latter acting in a national capacity to keep the European Union out—a point in Moscow’s favor). Turkey has all along been excluded from the co-chairmanship and relegated to the irrelevant Conference (another point in Moscow’s favor).

The triple co-chairmanship has been the Minsk Group’s sole initiating and operating agent all along. It has mediated between Armenia and Azerbaijan, acting by internal consensus among the three co-chairs. However, Russia has been the most active co-chair by far from 2010 to date. The Barack Obama administration decided, as a matter of its Russia policy, to defer to Moscow on this issue; and Moscow upgraded the level of its involvement, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Kremlin itself. Owing to US disengagement and French irrelevance to this region, Russia has practically monopolized the mediator’s role between Armenia and Azerbaijan, nominally through the Minsk Group but often bypassing it in practice, throughout this past decade.

Exceptionally, the period 2006–2009 became the most fruitful on the Minsk Group’s record, with the US co-chair’s committed and creative engagement. This period produced the Minsk Group’s legacy in the form of the “Basic Principles” for a settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Karabakh. Presented to the parties by the triple co-chairmanship at the OSCE’s 2007 annual conference in Madrid (hence also the “Madrid principles”) in preliminary form and updated for public presentation at the G8 summit in L’Aquila in 2009, the Basic Principles comprise (Osce.org, July 10, 2009):

– Return of the territories surrounding “Nagorno” (Upper) Karabakh to Azerbaijani control [reference to the seven inner-Azerbaijani districts adjacent to Upper Karabakh];

– A corridor linking Armenia to Upper Karabakh (reference to the Lachin corridor);

– An interim status for Upper Karabakh, providing guarantees for security and self-governance;

– Future determination of the final legal status of Upper Karabakh through a legally binding _expression_ of will;

– The right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence;

– International security guarantees that would include a peacekeeping operation.

An accompanying joint statement by the US, Russian, and French presidents, representing the Minsk Group’s co-chairing countries, endorsed these updated Basic Principles, and called on the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to “finalize their agreement on these Basic Principles, which will outline a comprehensive settlement” (Osce.org, July 10, 2009).

The Basic Principles did, at that stage, and could still constitute a viable and appropriate basis for a mediated political settlement of this conflict. Post-2010 developments, however, frustrated any further advances and, in due course, eroded the Basic Principles themselves. Those developments included: declining US interest, Russia’s takeover of the driver’s seat in the negotiations (see above), Moscow’s tilt in favor Armenia, Azerbaijan’s consequent loss of trust in the Minsk process, and Armenia’s “velvet revolution” which resulted in Yerevan’s outright repudiation of the Basic Principles from 2018 onward and paved the way to war (see accompanying article).

Even before the war’s outbreak (September 27), Russia had practically appropriated what had been the OSCE Minsk multilateral process. Following the outbreak of war, the U.S. and French co-chairs found themselves excluded from Moscow’s unilateral mediation between Baku and Yerevan. The U.S. and French co-chairs were reduced to telephoning Moscow for information. Yet Moscow has not killed the Minsk Group; it may still need it for a multilateral cover on Moscow’s own decisions down the road. Moscow has therefore kept the Minsk Group’s formal co-chairmanship barely alive during the 44-day war through meaningless “for the record” statements.

The armistice agreement, signed on November 9, 2020, by Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, consecrates Russia’s monopolization of the mediator’s role (see EDM, November 12, 13). Although the agreement does contain some of the Basic Principles, it makes no reference to them, nor to their collective author, the Minsk Group. It thereby conveys a message that multilateral diplomacy is over and Russia is now in charge. The armistice agreement departs from the Basic Principles in four respects:

– it omits any reference to Upper Karabakh’s legal or political status, current or future, although it does not prejudice that either;

– it places approximately one third of Upper (“Nagorno”) Karabakh’s territory de facto under Azerbaijan’s direct administration, apparently but not necessarily excluding this part of Upper Karabakh from the purview of self-governance and status that the Minsk process had envisaged for “Nagorno” Karabakh;

– it adds, as an entirely new provision, the opening of a corridor between western Azerbaijan and the latter’s exclave of Nakhchivan, across Armenian territory and under Russian border troops’ supervision; and

– it inserts Russian “peacekeeping” troops in Upper Karabakh, in a dual role: to supervise the ceasefire and to protect the Armenian population of rump Upper Karabakh. This move contravenes the understanding that all parties to the Minsk process had achieved from the outset (OSCE’s 1994 annual conference) and had maintained until now: namely, that any future peacekeeping mission would exclude troops from the three Minsk Group co-chairing countries (Russia, US, France) or from neighboring countries (such as Russia or Turkey).

These changes to the Basic Principles introduce significant elements of ambiguity; which, combined with Russia’s military presence on the ground, enable Russia henceforth to manipulate or block the negotiations toward a final settlement. Armenia has now fallen into full dependence on Russia; whereas Azerbaijan can rely on Turkey, the new entrant and game-changer in the region, to protect Azerbaijan’s interests to some extent though not fully yet.


Part 1: https://jamestown.org/program/the-minsk-group-karabakh-wars-diplomatic-casualty-part-one/
Part 2: https://jamestown.org/program/the-minsk-group-karabakh-wars-diplomatic-casualty-part-two/
Part 3: https://jamestown.org/program/the-minsk-group-karabakh-wars-diplomatic-casualty-part-three/
Part 4:

Asbarez: Kamala Harris Hires Advisors with Ties to Turkey, Azerbaijan

Vardan Badalian

December 5,  2020


Vice President Elect Kamala Harris’ picks for national security advisor Nancy McEldowney (left) and domestic policy advisor Rohini Kosoglu

Vice-President Elect Kamala Harris on Friday announced two key staff appointments, both of whom have ties with Turkey and/or Azerbaijan.

Harris announced the appointment of Nancy McEldowney as her national security advisor and Rohini Kosoglu as her domestic policy advisor.

A career U.S. Foreign Service official, McEldowney’s resume includes stints as U.S. Chargé d’Affaires and deputy chief of mission in Turkey (2005-2008) and Azerbaijan (2001-2004). Last month, McEldowney joined President Elect Joe Biden’s presidential transition team to facilitate efforts related to the Department of State.

It was during McEldowney’s tenure in Ankara when the Turkish-Armenia protocol process started that was preceded by President George W. Bush’s infamous Rose Garden press briefing where he condemned the Armenian Genocide resolution being discussed in Congress. She presumably played a more direct role in advancing the protocols in her position as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs from 2009 to 2011.

President Elect Joe Biden has gone on record to express his frustrations with the Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“What I think we should be doing is taking a very different approach to him [Erdogan] now, making it clear that we support opposition leadership,” Biden told The New York Times in December, 2019.

“He [Erdogan] has to pay a price,” Biden said at the time, adding that Washington should embolden Turkish opposition leaders “to be able to take on and defeat Erdogan. Not by a coup, not by a coup, but by the electoral process.”

She was in Baku when the U.S. waived the Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, that preconditioned U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan with the end of Armenia’s blockade by Ankara and Baku.

In his fourth announcement in October, while fighting still raged in Karabakh due to Azerbaijan’s aggressive attacks, which were supported by Turkey and Ankara-backed mercenaries from Syria, Biden called on the administration to enforce Section 907 bans on aid to Azerbaijan and the flow of military equipment into Azerbaijan.

“While he brags about his deal-making skills at campaign rallies, Trump has yet to get involved personally to stop this war. The administration must fully implement and not waive requirements under section 907 of the Freedom Support Act to stop the flow of military equipment to Azerbaijan, and call on Turkey and Russia to stop fueling the conflict with the supply of weapons and, in the case of Turkey, mercenaries,” Biden said at the time.

The Sri Lankan-American Kosoglu, who is Harris’ pick for domestic policy advisor, is the wife of Turkish-American software engineer Ozkan Sedat Kosoglu, who hails from Turkey’s northwestern province of Kırklareli.

The announcement of her appointment was hailed by Turkish media, which welcomed the “Bride of Kirklareli” being named to such a high-ranking post.

Harris described Kosoglu as “not only an expert on some of the most important issues facing the American people but also one of my closest and most trusted aides from the Senate and presidential campaign.”

Prior to her appointment on Friday, Kosoglu served as senior advisor on the Biden-Harris campaign, before which she was Harris’ chief of staff in the Senate directing her legislative strategy and leadership on key committees, including the Senate Judiciary, Homeland Security and Government Affairs, as well as Budget Committees.

More than 55,000 residents of Artsakh already back home – government says

Vardan Badalian

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 11:21,

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. More than 55,000 residents of Artsakh who had evacuated due to the war have returned to their homes as of November 30, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Development of Artsakh Zhirayr Mirzoyan told ARMENPRESS.

Earlier today the Russian military said that more than 23,000 people have returned to Artsakh. Asked to clarify, Mirzoyan said these 23000 are the residents whom the peacekeepers have recorded and this number is included in the 55,000. He said the 23000 residents were escorted by the Russian peacekeepers through the Goris-Berdzor-Stepanakert road.

“Many others had returned on their own before the Vardenis-Karvajar road was shut down. Russian peacekeepers weren’t deployed here at that time. Therefore those returning weren’t registered,” Mirzoyan said.

Speaking about the accommodation of the returning refugees, Mirzoyan said that all hotels and other buildings in Stepanakert are currently full. He said the government is renting village homes and providing them to residents who were forced to move from territories that have come under Azeri control.

Meanwhile, reconstruction in the heavily bombed Stepanakert City continues.

Reporting by Van Novikov; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan