Category: 2021

Sports: Exclusive: Arthur Abraham announces end of career

Garik Boshkezenian
News.am, Armenia
Jan 15 2021

In an interview with NEWS.am Sport, professional IBF middleweight and WBO super-middleweight boxer Arthur Abraham officially announced the end of his boxing career and added that he wants to spend time with his family, children and parents.

The 40-year-old Germany-based boxer is currently in Yerevan with his family. He hasn’t been in the ring for a long time now, but hasn’t made an official announcement about the end of his career yet. During the interview, Abraham officially announced that he is not going to participate in duels anymore.

Abraham’s last duel was on April 28, 2019 in the German city of Offenburg where he beat Danish boxer Patrick Nielsen. The Armenian boxer has scored 47 victories and been defeated 6 times throughout his career.

Watch the interview at

CivilNet: Biden Administration’s Foreign Policy Team Taking Shape

Emil Lazarian
CIVILNET.AM

00:14

By Emil Sanamyan

Joe Biden, who is set to be inaugurated as the president of the United State on January 20, has made public the names of officials that will lead his foreign policy team. Most of them served in the Barack Obama administration and have past experience with Armenia and its region.

Antony Blinken, a former long-time Biden aide in the Senate and the White House and Obama administration’s deputy secretary of state, will serve as Biden’s secretary of state. In 2014, then deputy national security advisor Blinken facilitated the release of the so-called “orphan rug” to be displayed during Armenian community’s genocide commemoration events.

Victoria Nuland, a former assistant secretary for Europe and Eurasia under Obama, will now be the State Department’s number three, as undersecretary for political affairs. Scholar and former Armenian government official Gerard Libaridian told 168 Zham that Nuland was “one of those people who in 1997–1998 did a lot of work in Armenia’s internal affairs. She made a huge contribution to [then president Levon] Ter-Petrossian’s resignation.” According to Libaridian, Nuland’s rationale was as follows: “Ter-Petrossian is a smart man, but he is not a strong man, he can not make peace. But [Robert] Kocharyan is a strong man, he is a winner of the war, he must establish peace, he promised.

Former Obama advisor Samantha Power will head the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Power was a voice for recognition of the Armenian genocide, but was rebuffed by Obama, who, prioritizing Armenia-Turkey normalization instead, told Power in 2009: “You know what? I am worried about the Armenians, too.”

Former career diplomat Bill Burns will head the Central Intelligence Agency. As the third (2008-11) and then second (2011-14) most senior official in the State Department, Burns was involved in the U.S. efforts facilitating Armenia-Turkey talks and Karabakh negotiations.

At the White House, another Obama administration veteran and top foreign policy advisor for Hillary Clinton, Jake Sullivan will head the national security council. Notably, the Caucasus region will be part of the Europe directorate led by Amanda Sloat, whereas Russia is grouped in one directorate with Central Asia to be led by Andrea Kendall-Taylor. In the Obama administration, Sloat was deputy assistant secretary of state overseeing relations with Turkey. A former intelligence analyst, Kendall-Taylor was a Fulbright scholar in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in 2007-8, focusing on the politics of oil.

Nancy McEldowney, a former principal deputy assistant secretary for Europe and Eurasia (2009-11) will be the national security advisor to vice president Kamala Harris. McEldowney also dealt with Armenian issues as deputy chief of mission in Turkey (2005-8) and Azerbaijan (2001-4). She was charge d’affaires in Baku during transition from Heydar Aliyev to Ilham Aliyev in 2003.

This piece was originally published in Focus on Karabkah

Emil Sanamyan is a South Caucasus specialist based in Washington D.C.. He is the editor of the University of Southern California Focus on Karabakh platform. 

How the Biden presidency might impact Turkey’s Kurdish problem

Emil Lazarian 
Arab News


By David Romano
Jan. 17, 2021

MISSOURI, US: A good many Kurds in Turkey and elsewhere will be
celebrating the departure of US President Donald Trump when he leaves
office on Jan. 20.

Those in Iraq will remember when his administration hung them out to
dry during their independence referendum, allowing Iran, Baghdad and
Shiite militias to attack, while Turkey threatened to blockade them.

Turkey, meanwhile, had little reason to fear American outcry over its
human rights violations as it arrested and jailed thousands of
pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP) activists and their elected
representatives.

And in case this did not prove sufficiently disappointing for the
Kurds, Trump withdrew US troops from the Turkish border in
northeastern Syria in October 2019, giving Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan the green light to invade the Kurdish enclaves there
and ethnically cleanse hundreds of thousands from the area.

Kurdish forces in Syria, who had just concluded the successful ground
campaign against Daesh, found themselves betrayed by a callous and
unpredictable American administration. Just days before Trump greenlit
the Turkish operation in a phone call with Erdogan, the Americans had
convinced the Syrian Kurds to remove their fortifications near the
Turkish border to “reassure Turkey.”

Most Kurds therefore look forward to President-elect Joe Biden taking
over in Washington. In Turkey, from which roughly half the world’s
Kurdish population hails, many hope the new Biden administration will
pressure Ankara to cease its military campaigns and return to the
negotiating table with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

At the very least, they hope a Biden-led administration will not
remain silent as Erdogan’s government tramples upon human rights in
Turkey and launches military strikes against Kurds in Syria and Iraq
as well.

Judging by the record of the Obama administration, in which Biden
served as vice-president, Kurds may expect some improvements over
Trump. But they should also not raise their hopes too high.

One need only recall how Erdogan’s government abandoned the Kurdish
peace process in 2015, when the Obama administration was still in
power. At that time, the HDP’s improved electoral showing in the
summer of 2015 cost Erdogan his majority in parliament. He responded
by making sure no government could be formed following the June
election, allowing him to call a redo election for November.

Between June and November, his government abandoned talks with the
Kurds and resumed the war against the PKK. The resulting “rally around
the flag” effect saw Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP)
improve its showing in November, boosted further by the Turkish army
siege of entire Kurdish cities, which in effect disenfranchised them.
Following the November 2015 vote, Erdogan formed a new government with
the far-right and virulently anti-Kurdish National Action Party (MHP).

The militarization of Ankara’s approach to its “Kurdish problem”
increased even further under the AKP-MHP partnership. In 2015 and
2016, whole city blocks in majority Kurdish cities of southeastern
Turkey were razed to the ground as part of the counterinsurgency
campaign. In the town of Cizre, the army burned Kurdish civilians
alive while they hid in a basement.

In Sirnak, footage emerged of Turkish forces dragging the body of a
well-known Kurdish filmmaker behind their armored vehicle. In
Nusaybin, MHP parliamentarians called for the razing of the entire
city.

Urban warfare is never pretty, of course, and the PKK held part of the
blame for the destruction as a result of its new urban warfare
strategy. Many aspects of the Erdogan government’s counterinsurgency
actions of 2015 and 2016 went beyond the pale, however, and should
have earned at least some rebukes from Washington.

The Obama administration stayed largely silent during this time.
Policy makers in Washington had finally gained Turkish acquiescence to
use NATO air bases in Turkey in their campaign against Daesh and
Ankara has also promised to join the effort.

What Obama really received from Ankara, however, were a few token
Turkish airstrikes of little significance against Daesh and a rising
crescendo of heavy attacks against America’s Kurdish allies in Syria.

Erdogan’s government duly reported every cross-border strike and
various incursions and invasions into Syria as “operations against
terrorist organizations in Syria” — conveniently conflating Daesh and
the Syrian Kurdish forces.

Turkey even employed former Daesh fighters and other Syrian radical
groups among its proxy mercenaries in these operations, further
aggravating Syria’s problems with militant Islamists.

The quid pro quo of this arrangement involved Washington turning a
blind eye to Turkey’s human rights abuses against Kurds both in Syria
and Turkey. Even Turkish airstrikes in Iraq, which at times killed
Iraqi army personnel and civilians in places like Sinjar, failed to
elicit any American rebukes — under Obama or Trump.

If the new Biden administration returns to the standard operating
procedures of the Obama administration regarding Turkey, little may
change.

Although a Biden administration would probably not callously throw
erstwhile Kurdish allies in Syria or Iraq under the bus as Trump did,
they might well continue to cling to false hopes of relying on Turkey
to help contain radical Islamists.

Many in Washington even think Turkey can still help the US counter
Russia and Iran — never mind the mountain of evidence that Turkey
works with both countries to pursue an anti-American agenda in the
region.

Alternatively, Biden may prove markedly different to his incarnation
as vice president. Biden knows the region well, has called Erdogan an
autocrat on more than one occasion and has repeatedly shown sympathy
for the Kurds and their plight in the past.

In charge of his own administration rather than acting as an aide to
Obama’s, Biden could conceivably break new ground regarding Turkey and
the Kurds.

If so, he might start by pressuring Turkey to abide by human rights
norms. Selahattin Demirtas, the former HDP leader and 2018 Turkish
presidential hopeful, as well as tens of thousands of other political
dissidents have been languishing in pre-trial detention in Turkey for
years now.

In December 2020, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that
Demirtas’ detention is politically motivated and based on trumped-up
charges and that he must be released.

Although Turkey is a signatory to the court, it has repeatedly ignored
such rulings. A more human rights-oriented administration in
Washington might join the likes of France and others in pressuring
Ankara on such matters.

A determined Biden administration might also try to coax or pressure
Ankara back to the negotiating table with the PKK. A return to even
indirect negotiations, especially if overseen by the Americans, could
go a long way towards improving things in both Turkey and Syria.

Little more than five years ago, Turkey’s southeast was quiet and
Syrian Kurdish leaders were meeting as well as cooperating with
Turkish officials.

If Erdogan and his MHP partners nonetheless remain adamant in
maintaining their internal and external wars, then Biden should look
elsewhere for American partners.

Biden said as much only last year, expressing his concern about
Erdogan’s policies. “What I think we should be doing is taking a very
different approach to him now, making it clear that we support
opposition leadership ... . He (Erdogan) has to pay a price,” Biden
said.

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,” he added.

This kind of language from the new Biden administration might go a
long way towards changing the current policy calculus in Ankara.

*

David Romano is Thomas G. Strong Professor of Middle East Politics at
Missouri State University

ANN/Armenian News – The Literary Armenian News – 01/18/2020

Tatoyan Vazgen

Armeniana

It was on a Tuesday, or was it a Monday?

Our shackles were no more, loose wrists, tongues, more

The din high, patriotic slogans rose as morning bread 

Furnace of frustration bursting flames, fanfare fueled air

Loudest of speeches seldom reach the truth buried in folded muck

Frazzled by giants pounding our mountains, flying banners red or black

We are just like them, not at all! Unique! Special! Blessed! Cursed!

Sing unity, peace but know the truth of looped prisoners in a rigged trial

Civilizations parade in dreams of justice, world order, international law as 

Tanks roll over our graves, drones mark posteriors as golden crosses we bear for

Laser guided missiles to drill sense into our heirs, who flee, cower, blame, sour

No brotherly cessation of hostilities, rabid animals and their traps set for supper

All this and an elaborate artifice of a church of fake noose

A clergy of black menace within the community organ pipes

Who needs grey wolves when you have Armeniana

Fleecing one another at the door, on the way in and out once more?

Outsider, underdog, never play the responsible party

Others must clean messes left by sloppy para-solitary leaders

Bought and sold on the open market of the East and resold 

By nightfall to the Western tourists admiring tassels, branding howls.

Our ancient churches, crosses, bleed innocence from unborn generations 

Store windows entice posing naked mannequins in flickering neon lights

Plastic toys, paper trinkets imagining Paris, or NY for their broken kin

Away from their villages, barnyard animals, feudal family feuds with no end. 

Bedros Afeyan

Pleasanton, CA

12-31-2020

—
Dr. Bedros Afeyan is a theoretical physicist who works and lives in the Bay area with his wife, Marine.
He writes in Armenian and in English and also paints and sculpts.
He is the current editor of The Literary Armenian News at https://groong.org/tlg/
***************************************************************************
The homepage for The Literary Armenian News is at: groong.org/tlg/

Dr. Bedros Afeyan ([email protected]) is the editor of The Literary Armenian News (TLG), and will consider works not only of poetry, but also in the area of short fiction. Quality of language, excellence of translation, quality of song and images are all crucial to the aesthetic value of any work up for consideration.
Please note the following important guidelines:
  • All submissions to TLG MUST be sent to [email protected] and [email protected]. No others will be considered.
  • With your submission include a short bio about the author;
  • Submissions may not be anonymous, but at the author's request we may use their pen-name and/or withhold their Email address for purposes of privacy;
  • Submissions which have not yet been selected will continue to receive consideration for following issues;
  • In art, selection is necessarily a judgement call. As such, we will not argue why a particular submission was or was not selected;
  • There is no guarantee or promise that a submission will be published.

*******************************************************************

  • The Week in Review Podcasts
  • The Critical Corner
  • The Literary Armenian News
  • Review & Outlook
  • Probing the Photographic Record
  • Armenia House Museums
  • ..and much more

? Copyright 2021,  Armenian News Network / Armenian News, all rights reserved.
Regards,
—
Armenian News Network / Armenian News
Los Angeles, CA     / USA

CivilNet: Lavrov: It is not the best time to raise the issue of the status of Karabakh

Diana Dabaghian
CIVILNET.AM

16:34

No problem in Armenia’s officials visiting Karabakh  

“No one has ever denied the connection between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Lavrov responding to an Azerbaijani journalist’s question about Armenia’s foreign minister’s visit to Karabakh. 

In early January, Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazyan visited Stepanakert. This was his first visit to Karabakh after his appointment on November 18, 2020. "These visits must be stopped. If such provocative steps are taken, we warn that Armenia will regret it even more," read a statement by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Lavrov said that "In all the agreements, first of all, in the November 9 statement, the parties agreed that there will be a link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh along the Lachin corridor, which will be under the control of Russian peacekeepers.” 

“No one has ever denied Armenia's connection with Nagorno-Karabakh. During the decades of negotiations, the issue of cutting off Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from each other was never discussed. And that is why the Lachin Corridor, as a concept, was not rejected by anyone. And this is still the agreement between the parties, in particular, it is subject to the consent of our Azerbaijani neighbors,” he said.

According to Lavrov, there should be a link between the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenians of Armenia. “I see no reason to prevent contacts at this level. Armenian officials are involved in the process of providing humanitarian assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh, which does not cause any negative reaction in Baku, and it would be strange if it were otherwise. The fact that these Armenian officials make rather politicized statements in Nagorno Karabakh, perhaps, causes tension, and it would be better to avoid it,” he said.

“Before the 44-day war, we were eyewitnesses of […] emotional statements… new war-new territories, etc,” Lavrov said referring to Armenia’s former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan’s doctrine that if Azerbaijan started a new war, it would lose new territories. 

Status of Nagorno Karabakh 

Lavrov said that Russia pays great attention to the contacts between the leaderships of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the formation of an atmosphere of trust. “That is why now is not the best time to raise the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as a priority issue. It remains for the future," Lavrov said.

Lavrov highlighted that the status of Karabakh was consciously not mentioned in the November 9 statement. “This issue is left to the future. This should be dealt, in particular, by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. They have now resumed their contacts with all parties. They are preparing to visit the region. The issue of the status of Karabakh will be easier to solve if all the assurances from Yerevan and Baku are made on the ground that the main task is to regulate the daily life of all ethnic and religious communities in Karabakh, and it is necessary to restore their peaceful and good-neighborly coexistence,” he said.

The issue of POWs

The issue of prisoners of war is indeed being discussed, it is part of the November 9 statement on ending the Karabakh war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at his annual press conference. He said that this issue was discussed in telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev, after the signing of the trilateral statement.

He reminded that the issue of exchanging prisoners of war was also discussed during the recent Pashinyan-Putin-Aliyev trilateral meeting in Moscow on January 11.

"At the trilateral meeting held in Moscow on January 11, this issue was discussed for quite a long time. Initially, the following task was set in this issue, that the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides would draw up lists of missing persons whom they want to bring out of captivity. Azerbaijan submitted such a list, the number was insignificant. All of them were returned. After that, the Azerbaijani side did not submit lists of missing persons, prisoners of war or other persons,” Lavrov said, adding that the Armenian side submitted these lists ''not all at once and not in full.”

According to Lavrov, an exchange of POWs during the war has already taken place, which was envisaged by the November 9 joint statement.

"We are already discussing the problem that arose in the Hadrut region in early December, when a large group of Armenian soldiers, which was sent there, was captured. The Azerbaijani side states that these people were sent there after the announcement of the truce, their issue should be considered separately, and not within the framework regulated by the November 9 statement,” he said.

The Russian Foreign Minister noted that this issue is still being raised, and it needs to be resolved, guided by the principle of “everyone in exchange for everyone.” “I spoke with the Armenian foreign minister to be informed about the number of these people. It turned out that their number is more than 62. Now our military is dealing with this issue, cooperating with the military of Armenia and Azerbaijan to clarify the names of the missing persons,” Lavrov said.

Russia urges international organizations to work in Karabakh

We want other international organizations, including UNESCO and the UNHCR, to work there in addition to the ICRC. “Now they are coordinating with Yerevan and Baku on the issue of their assessment missions related to the status of Karabakh,” he said.

The only international organization working in Nagorno Karabakh is the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Lavrov calls the inclusion of Karabakh in Russia “exotic”

Lavrov called the statements about the inclusion of Karabakh in Russia as “exotic”. "No one, including Armenia, has recognized the independence of Karabakh. The thought hasn’t even crossed our minds. We believe that all issues should be resolved by the countries of the region, in this case – Armenia and Azerbaijan. We will contribute to those efforts that will be aimed at strengthening security and peace in the region,” he said.

Zara Poghosyan

Arman Tatoyan, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Reports Bluntly About The Country’s Security Concerns

Jhanna Virabian
The Blunt Post
Jan 10 2021
Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Reports Bluntly
 About The Country’s Security Concerns
 
Azerbaijan & Turkey Continue To Threaten Artsakh And Armenia
 
By Vic Gerami
 
Arman Tatoyan, the Human Rights Defender of Armenia visited and carried out surveys in the Syunik region of the Republic of Armenia, town of Kapan, as well as other towns and villages recently.
 
Some Background
 
From September 27 to November 10, the Armenian Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in the South Caucasus was exposed to a genocidal assault at the hands of Azerbaijan and Turkey. The entire world watched while the aggressors committed many crimes and indiscriminately shelled the indigenous lands of Armenians.
 
Turkey also sent Azerbaijan mercenaries from Syria with known affiliations to Islamic radical groups. This was confirmed by a recent United Nations report, as well as by the testimonies of many Syrian mercenaries and reports by international media outlets.
 
Together with Azerbaijani military forces, they perpetrated war crimes against Armenians. They murdered civilians, injured journalists and targeted homes, forests, hospitals, churches and cultural centers, among other non-military targets. They used white phosphorus and cluster munitions in violation of international law. At least 90,000 Armenians were forced to abandon their ancestral lands in Artsakh as a result.
 
The war finally halted after 45 days because of the Russia-brokered agreement imposed on Armenia.
 
Arman Tatoyan’s Statement

 
Our visits continued today in the town of Kapan, Syunik region of the Republic of Armenia, Agarak, Yeghvard, Chakaten and other villages.
 
Surveys were carried out in the areas of the runways of the administrative building of Kapan airport, in the immediate vicinity of which are the Azerbaijani locations. Studies show that there are dangers not only for the Kapan airport, but also for the interstate movement from Kapan to Yerevan (M2) and several residential areas in the city of Kapan.
 
During a visit to Kapan Airport in the above-mentioned villages, the on-the-spot Google and several other versions of online maps showed different results, including in some cases the road from Kapan to Chakaten village, as well as the road from Kapan Airport to Kapan Airport. The sections in which the Azerbaijani forces are deployed, appeared to be representing to be within the exclusive territory of the Republic of Armenia (RA).
 
Today’s visits of the Human Rights Defender to the city and villages of Kapan show that as a result of the approaches and methods used thus far, and especially the mechanical use of Global Positioning System (GPS) or Google maps, there are serious threats to the right to life and security of border residents, for their physical security, for their mental health and immunity, and for other rights of vital importance guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, some of which have already been grossly violated. The security of the RA state borders is endangered.
 
By mechanical application of these principles, various sections of the road from Kapan to Chakaten and other villages have come under Azerbaijani control, which has put the movement of civilians in real danger. At the same time, it must be considered that this road is absolutely necessary for the security of the villages of Chakaten, Shikahogh, Srashen, Nerkin Hand, Tsav, and for the vital rights of the inhabitants in the region.
 
In addition, for example, in Chakaten, Agarak and Yeghvard, people have simply been deprived of the opportunity to support themselves, and of the use of the agricultural lands owned by them, and of their rights (for example, for private or economic purposes as a garden, arable land, or pasture). Moreover, these infringements also refer to such lands, for which the certificates confirming the state registration of such rights, including property rights, were issued either by Soviet Armenia, or by the competent bodies of different periods of the Independent Republic of Armenia (Cadastre Committee, etc.).
 
All the while, international rules of delimitation directly require that when determining the state borders of a country, priority should be given to the rights of border residents, their real estate and/or other property. It is of critical necessity to ascertain in advance the persons who will be deprived of their rights, to their apartments, lands, private business interests and objectives, and other property due to the border demarcation process. It must be borne in mind that they have a just right to compensation.
 
One of the priority tasks of the state in the process of determining the borders is to solve the issues of ensuring the safe use of forests and forest resources, as well as water resources necessary for the vital needs of the border residents.
 
Therefore, the current approaches, and especially with respect to matters of resolving the issues of Armenia’s borders through GPS [Global Positioning] system or Google (private) applications which endanger the inviolability of Armenia’s state borders and security, and to ensure the rights of people living in our country and especially those of our border residents, such a frame of reference which has been utilized thus far, is absolutely unacceptable.
 
Today’s meetings of the Human Rights Defender with the residents of the border villages, the discussions and studies with the community bodies confirm that the Azerbaijani military regularly appears on different sections of the roads connecting the mentioned populated regions of the Republic of Armenia and does so in a provocative manner to intimidate the residents of these communities.
 
The various research of the Human Rights Defender’s staff show that in Kapan, Agarak, Yeghvard and other settlements which have been transformed to border areas, the residents do not have credible information pertaining to the determination of the borders and their respective rights. This creates uncertainty, and it creates an atmosphere of alarm and anxiety among civilians.
 
During today’s visit, important meetings were held with the Mayor of Kapan, Yeghvard, Agarak, and heads of several other rural communities, community bodies, and the residents of these communities, as well as the staff of the RA Armed Forces and the NSS border troops.
 
During today’s visits, the Human Rights Defender’s Office also obtained the relevant facts necessary for the protection of human rights in specific situations, in connection with which separate summaries will be made and the necessary measures will be taken.
 

Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia to hold trilateral summit to end Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Toneyan Mark
Arirang, S. Korea
Jan 10 2021
Updated: 2021-01-11 04:17:22 KST
 
Russia will host a trilateral summit with Azerbaijan and Armenia on Monday, in its continued efforts to end the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to the Kremlin on Sunday, the leaders will discuss providing assistance to residents affected by hostilities, and resuming economic relations between the two former Soviet republics.
 This comes after a ceasefire was reached in November, brokered by Russia, which halted a six-week violent conflict.
 
"We have agreed that military action stops and the parties remain at the positions where they were when the agreement was signed. And the next thing should be full normalization."
 
 Russia had also sent peacekeeping soldiers to monitor the ceasefire.
 But, tensions remained high in the region,.as minor violence continued to break out in the past weeks.

TURKISH press: The future of Karabakh: An Azerbaijani perspective

Kanayan Tamar
 OP-ED 
JAN 11, 2021 12:05 AM GMT+3
Azerbaijan's military trucks roll along a highway, near Kalbajar, Azerbaijan, Dec. 2, 2020. (AP Photo)

Azerbaijan and Armenia have just finished the second Karabakh war in the last 30 years. Due to its military and economic superiority, Azerbaijan was able to liberate its internationally recognized territory from the Armenian occupation and restore its sovereignty over these areas, for the first time since 1993.

More than 800,000 Azerbaijani internally displaced persons (IDPs) will have a chance to return to their homes. At the same time, some 60,000 Armenian people remain in some regions of Karabakh. The cease-fire regime is protected by the newly arrived Russian peacekeepers, who have a mandate to operate in the area for the next five years.

While many people in Azerbaijan proudly celebrate this historic victory and rejoice in the chance to see their native lands again, experts, politicians and opiners have already started to brainstorm and design the future of Karabakh.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has publicly stated that a new era is starting in the region, which will be full of restoration, reconstruction and development.

Indeed, the liberated areas have been greatly destroyed and looted as a result of the decadeslong occupation. Most of the infrastructure is ruined and needs to be rebuilt from scratch.

The government of Azerbaijan has started road construction to Shusha, the feasibility study for railway construction and a multibillion investment proposal for the agriculture, construction and tourism sectors in the region. However, demining and the gradual return of Azerbaijani IDPs will be the priority task.

Meanwhile, some analysts and pundits claim that the physical reconstruction of the area, no matter how expensive, will be a much easier task than the peace-building initiatives between the two communities.

Aliyev envisions the future of the region as the peaceful coexistence of both communities within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The region has never been recognized as an independent area by any country nor by any international organization.

All nations in the world recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Thus, a proper model and format need to be developed to integrate ethnic Armenians into Azerbaijan's statehood.

Azerbaijan is a multiethnic country. There are close to 70 ethnic and religious minorities in the country, all enjoying constitutional rights and privileges.

Interethnic and interreligious harmony and dialogue have been a priority state policy in the country, and the majority of Azerbaijanis regard the ethnic diversity of the country as a national treasure. Armenians are offered to be part of this cultural diversity and live side by side with Azerbaijanis and other ethnic groups.

Armenians and Azerbaijanis have had times of war but also many years of peaceful coexistence. During Soviet times, some 200,000 Armenians lived in Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan and enjoyed high-ranking positions in the government, education and economy.

Similarly, 300,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis lived in Armenia and also felt peaceful and stable for most of the time. In Karabakh, representatives of both ethnic groups learned each other’s languages, attended weddings and funerals and arranged common celebrations and cultural events.

The future of the region can be optimistic and prosperous if both sides put aside their historical traumas and grievances.

Armenia is surrounded by Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey, and the only way to build sustainable economic development for Armenia is to live in peace with neighbors and refuse traditional territorial claims.

The Azerbaijani government is seemingly eager to invest oil revenues in the development of the region. The nations of the South Caucasus are tired of wars and want to focus on future opportunities.

Khankendi, the capital of Karabakh, is closer to Azerbaijani cities than to the Armenian capital Yerevan. Opening transport routes and corridors can make South Caucasus a transit hub for greater Eurasia.

A regional cooperation framework with the involvement of Turkey, Russia and Iran can guard the region against future wars and instabilities.

Confidence-building initiatives are important at this stage. The exchange of war prisoners is a good start. Humanitarian aid, relief activities, demining and the provision of basic postwar necessities can be also shared activities.

Mutual visits by public figures, students, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and intelligentsia can help to build trust and find common ground for cooperation. Such visits have been rare in the past due to the occupation. Yet, in the coming years, human bridges will be pivotal for building sustainable peace.

It is also important for both communities to discuss openly and directly issues that concern them. This can be done in a civil manner without guns and wars. Security concerns can become a priority in this dialogue.

Other issues might include cultural rights, religious sites, educational opportunities and shared history. Focusing on common cultural elements will narrow the gap between the former adversaries.

In the not-so-distant future, joint educational programs, site visits and NGO projects can be organized and funded by both local and foreign governments. A specific focus can be given to the region’s ecology, nature and sustainability.

Educational programs for youth and children, aimed at eradicating ethnic hatred and an extreme form of nationalism, can also be helpful.

An important role in this process belongs to international organizations and foreign countries that have vested interest in this region and can help both with the reconstruction process as well as building permanent peace and trust between Azerbaijanis and Armenians.

Financing projects that are aimed at strengthening peace and mutual understanding will be vital in this context. Financing separatism and extremism will open old wounds and lay the foundation for inevitable future wars.

Aliyev has said that the Karabakh conflict is finished. The region has finally obtained a chance to build a long-awaited durable peace. Much will depend on politicians and their immediate actions in the postwar period.

Building trust and interdependence between both communities will help to prevent future wars and bloodshed. Developing a prosperous local economy will empower both communities and shift their focus from historical animosity toward an optimistic common future.

*Executive vice-rector at ADA University in Baku




TURKISH press: Development pact signed at 3-way Caucasus summit in Moscow

Emil Lazarian
Emre Gurkan Abay, Ali Cura, and Dmitri Chirciu   |11.01.2021

MOSCOW

Meeting two months after a cease-fire was declared for the Caucasus' Nagorno-Karabakh region, ending over a month of conflict, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia Monday signed a pact to develop economic ties and infrastructure to benefit the entire region.

Speaking in Moscow alongside Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, and Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s premier, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the talks as “extremely important and useful.”

“We were able to come to an agreement … on the development of the situation in the region,” Putin told reporters after four hours of trilateral talks.

“I mean concrete steps to build economic ties and develop infrastructure projects. For this purpose, a working group will be created, which will be headed by the vice-premiers of three governments – Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. In the near future they will create working expert subgroups, present concrete plans for the development of transport infrastructure and the region's economy.”

He added: “I am confident that the implementation of these agreements will benefit both the Armenian and Azerbaijani people and, without any doubt, will benefit the region as a whole.”

The Russian leader also said the Nov. 10 agreement between the three countries ending the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh conflict had generally been fulfilled, adding that Russian military units temporarily in the region are carrying out their duties.

Karabakh conflict

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

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and even violated humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the six-week-long conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages, while at least 2,802 of its soldiers were martyred. There are differing claims about the number of casualties on the Armenian side, which, sources and officials say, could be up to 5,000.

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

A joint Turkish-Russian center is being established to monitor the truce. Russian peacekeeping troops have also been deployed in the region.

The cease-fire is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces have withdrawn in line with the agreement.

Violations, however, have been reported in the past few weeks, with some Armenian soldiers said to have been hiding in the mountainous enclave.

*Writing by Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak in Ankara