- Armenia PM Signals Foreign Policy Shift Away from Russia | Vantage with Palki Sharma Firstpost
- Joint working group to be established in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region for civil activities Anadolu Agency | English
- Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict explained: Where is Nagorno-Karabakh and is Russia involved? The Telegraph
- Armenian Protests Continue After Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh Offensive Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
- The West has a moral responsibility to help build peace in Nagorno-Karabakh Al Jazeera English
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Tag Archives: Armenia
Armenia to conduct military exercises with US amid growing tensions with Russia – Fox News
- Armenia to conduct military exercises with US amid growing tensions with Russia Fox News
- Russia summons Armenia’s ambassador as ties fray and exercises with US troops approach The Associated Press
- Armenia plans exercise with US troops. Is Armenia moving away from reliance on Russia? | WION WION
- Russia summons Armenian ambassador over Ukraine aid pledge POLITICO Europe
- A close Russian ally snubbed Putin by announcing military exercises with the US — the latest in a series of embarrassments for the president Yahoo News
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UN to hold emergency meeting on Azerbaijan’s blockade of road from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh – The Associated Press
- UN to hold emergency meeting on Azerbaijan’s blockade of road from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh The Associated Press
- Türkiye expects Armenia to avoid ‘provocative steps’ on Lachin road Anadolu Agency | English
- UN Experts Urge Azerbaijan To Lift Blockade Of Lachin Corridor Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
- With Nagorno-Karabakh under blockade for 8 months, Armenia seeks urgent UN Security Council meeting The Associated Press
- Baku says peace efforts ‘hostage’ to Yerevan’s policy of ‘deliberate tension, revanchism’ Anadolu Agency | English
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Armenia calls for UN help on Nagorno-Karabakh’s humanitarian situation – Al Jazeera English
- Armenia calls for UN help on Nagorno-Karabakh’s humanitarian situation Al Jazeera English
- With Nagorno-Karabakh under blockade for 8 months, Armenia seeks urgent UN Security Council meeting The Associated Press
- Armenia Asks UN Security Council To Hold Emergency Meeting On Nagorno-Karabakh Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
- Opinion | In Nagorno-Karabakh, civilians could starve this winter – The Washington Post The Washington Post
- Armenians Are Once Again Facing Genocide. The Time To Act Is Now | Opinion Newsweek
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Azerbaijan kidnapped 68-year-old patient, who was being transferred from Artsakh to Armenia by the ICRC- Stepanyan – Public Radio of Armenia – Public Radio of Armenia
- Azerbaijan kidnapped 68-year-old patient, who was being transferred from Artsakh to Armenia by the ICRC- Stepanyan – Public Radio of Armenia Public Radio of Armenia
- Medical convoys from Nagorno-Karabakh suspended after Armenian detained by Azerbaijan POLITICO Europe
- Armenian Aid Truck Convoy Blocked At Azerbaijani Checkpoint For Third Day Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
- Humanitarian Situation in Nagorno-Karabakh – Portal Council of Europe
- Armenia calls on allies to help get aid to Nagorno-Karabakh during tensions with Azerbaijan Yahoo News
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Armenia, Azerbaijan highlight Nagorno-Karabakh schism in Munich standoff – Reuters
- Armenia, Azerbaijan highlight Nagorno-Karabakh schism in Munich standoff Reuters
- Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev Before Their Meeting – United States Department of State Department of State
- Blinken To Hold Trilateral Meeting With Leaders Of Armenia, Azerbaijan In Munich Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
- Address by President Charles Michel at the Munich Security Conference Présidence française du Conseil de l’Union européenne 2022
- Leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan set for first meeting since October ThePrint
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Nancy Pelosi, in Armenia, condemns Azerbaijan’s ‘illegal’ attacks
Pelosi said the trip had been planned before deadly clashes erupted Sept. 12 along the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia near the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in a flare-up of a decades-long conflict, as Azerbaijan may have been trying to take advantage of Russia’s preoccupation with its invasion of Ukraine. Armenia is a close ally of Russia, while Azerbaijan is aligned with Turkey.
Military officials in Azerbaijan acknowledged the strikes but accused Armenia of a “wide-scale provocation,” planting mines near border facilities and shelling Azerbaijani positions earlier on Monday. Armenia called these allegations “an absolute lie” and blamed Baku for the renewed hostilities.
At a joint news conference Sunday with Armenian National Assembly President Alen Simonyan, Pelosi said it was clear the attacks were initiated by Azerbaijan and must stop, and that the United States should use its influence and leverage to show support for Armenia.
“The immediate response from the United States was to stop the violence and to have a cease-fire,” Pelosi said. “Our delegation had been very outspoken, saying that this was initiated by Azeris and that there has to be recognition of that and how that will stop.”
Pelosi said President Biden was a strong supporter of Armenia, and vowed the two countries would “work together on what the next steps may be” to address the flare up of violence.
“The democracy in Armenia is a value to the world, a joy to the world,” Pelosi said. “We have to enlarge the issue though … What does security in Armenia mean to regional and global security? What does democracy in Armenia mean to end the fight between democracy and autocracy which is going on in the world now? In both cases, it means a great deal.”
Pelosi’s office said she is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Armenia since the country’s independence in 1991 from the former Soviet Union.
Other members of the U.S. delegation include Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., (D-N.J.) chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Jackie Speier (D.-Calif.), who is of Armenian descent, and Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.), who is of Armenian Assyrian descent.
The period leading up to the visit has been marked by days of heavy fighting that represent the largest outbreak of hostilities since a full-scale war in 2020, in which Azerbaijan recaptured territories that Armenia had occupied for decades. The six-week war ended with military victory for Azerbaijan and a fragile Moscow-backed truce, in which Armenia surrendered large swaths of territory.
The Southern Caucasus region has long been a source of diplomatic sensitivities for the United States. But after lobbying by members of Congress and Armenian Americans, Biden last year formally recognized a massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century as a genocide, a term that the United States had long avoided for fear of harming its relationship with Turkey. Historians estimate that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a campaign of forced marches and mass killings during World War I.
Pelosi invoked those deaths in the context of the continuing war in Ukraine. “It is the moral duty of all to never forget: an obligation that has taken on heightened urgency as atrocities are perpetrated around the globe, including by Russia against Ukraine,” Pelosi said in a statement ahead of her trip.
Mary Ilyushina contributed to this report.
Pelosi condemns Azerbaijan’s attacks on Armenia
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TBILISI, Sept 18 (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday strongly condemned what she said were “illegal” border attacks by Azerbaijan on Armenia, using a visit to the Russian ally to pledge American support for its sovereignty.
Pelosi cast her trip to Armenia, a sliver of land the size of U.S. state of Maryland that is wedged between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Iran, as an attempt to strengthen support for what she cast as a beacon of democracy.
Speaking in the ancient city of Yerevan, Pelosi said her trip had significance following the “illegal and deadly attacks by Azerbaijan on Armenian territory” that triggered border clashes in which more than 200 people were killed.
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“We strongly condemn those attacks,” Pelosi said beside Armenian parliamentary speaker Alen Simonyan, who last week expressed unhappiness with the response of a Russian-led military alliance to Yerevan’s request for help. read more
Pelosi, who angered China with a trip to Taiwan last month, said it was clear that the border fighting was triggered by Azeri assaults on Armenia and that the chronology of the conflict should be made clear.
The fighting “was initiated by the Azeris and there has to be recognition of that,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi’s remarks drew an unusually strong rebuke from Baku, which said she was endangering the peace in the Caucasus.
“The unsubstantiated and unfair accusations levelled by Pelosi against Azerbaijan are unacceptable,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“This is a serious blow to the efforts to normalize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” the ministry said, casting Pelosi’s remarks as “Armenian propaganda”.
Such a definitive apportioning of blame for the conflict goes beyond what the U.S. State Department has so far said in public. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concerns over the fighting and called for calm but did not assign blame.
Armenia said Azerbaijan shelled at least six Armenian settlements inside the border shortly after midnight on Sept. 13, attacking civilian and military infrastructure with drones and large calibre guns. Yerevan said it was unprovoked aggression.
Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, rejects those claims. Baku says Armenian sabotage units tried to mine Azeri positions, prompting soldiers to respond. Armenia says that narrative is Azeri disinformation.
RUSSIA’S BACKYARD
Russia, which repeatedly condemned Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, considers the Caucasus as its own sphere of influence and bristles at what it casts as U.S. meddling in the region.
Moscow though, is preoccupied by the war in Ukraine which has triggered the biggest confrontation with the West since the height of the Cold War.
Russia is Armenia’s major military ally, has a military base in northern Armenia and peacekeepers along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh, over which Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war in 2020.
President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia had enough resources to mediate in the conflict. The latest fighting ended after a Russian-brokered ceasefire.
But after appeals for help, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance of former Soviet republics that includes Armenia but not Azerbaijan, decided on Tuesday to dispatch a monitoring mission.
Armenian Parliamentary Speaker Simonyan said he was dissatisfied with the response, likening the CSTO to a pistol that did not shoot bullets.
Speaking beside Pelosi, U.S. Representative Frank Pallone said the United States wanted to do whatever it could to be more supportive of Armenia’s security.
The United States, Pelosi said, was listening to Armenia about what its defence needs were and said Washington wanted to help and support Armenia in what she cast as a global struggle between democracy and autocracy.
“We should be using our influence, our leverage showing that Armenian democracy and sovereignty is a priority,” Pelosi said. “The velvet revolution was cheered globally.”
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan rose to power in 2018 after anti-government protests referred to as Armenia’s Velvet Revolution.
Pelosi said it was interesting that Armenia was disappointed by the response from Russia.
“It is interesting that they were disappointed they got fact finders and not protection from that relationship and we’ll see what happens next,” she said.
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Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, Editing by William Maclean, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Alex Richardson
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Armenia-Azerbaijan border attacks erupt, potentially reigniting an old conflict
CNN
—
A decades-old conflict may be on the verge of reigniting, as reports emerged this week of attacks along the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The Armenian Defense Ministry claimed Azerbaijan Armed Forces conducted artillery strikes toward Armenian border towns Tuesday morning. According to the Armenian Defense Ministry, the strike included drones and large-caliber firearms fired in the direction of Goris, Sotk, and Jermuk.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense responded with a statement acknowledging the strikes, but said the strikes are “small-scale” and “aim to ensure the security of Azerbaijan’s borders.”
On Monday, Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense accused Armenian forces of firing in small arms in the directions of the Novoivanovka settlement of Gadabay region and Husulu settlement of Lachin region near the border of the two countries. Armenia denied the allegations.
Last month, the two countries clashed over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, a landlocked area between Eastern Europe and Western Asia that is populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians but located in Azerbaijani territory.
The unrest in the region is decades old, dating back to the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the region, backed by Armenia, declared independence from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has long claimed it will retake the territory, which is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani.
Russia, an Armenian security ally, maintains a peacekeeping force in the region after brokering a ceasefire agreement in early November 2020, ending an almost two-month conflict that killed at least 6,500 people, according to Reuters.
On Monday evening, the US issued a call for the “immediate cessation of hostilities,” according to a statement from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s office.
“The United States is deeply concerned about reports of attacks along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, including reported strikes against settlements and civilian infrastructure inside Armenia,” Blinken said. “As we have long made clear, there can be no military solution to the conflict. We urge an end to any military hostilities immediately.”
Deadly clashes erupt between Armenia, Azerbaijan | Military News
Azerbaijan reports losses among its troops after large-scale border clashes with Armenia.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have reported new border clashes that left an unknown number of Azerbaijani troops dead.
The fighting, which broke out early on Tuesday, marks the latest flare-up between the arch foes, who fought a war in 2020 over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Each side blamed the other for the fighting.
In a statement, Armenia’s defence ministry said Azerbaijan launched “intensive shelling” against Armenian military positions in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sok, and Jermuk at 00:05am (20:05 GMT) on Tuesday. Azerbaijani troops used drones, as well as “artillery and large-calibre firearms,” it said.
“Armenia’s armed forces have launched a proportionate response,” it added.
But Azerbaijan’s defence ministry accused Armenia of “large-scale subversive acts” near the districts of Dashkesan, Kelbajar and Lachin on the border, adding that its army positions “came under fire, including from trench mortars”.
“There are losses among [Azerbaijani] servicemen,” it said, without giving figures.
The United States said it was deeply concerned about reports of the attacks.
“As we have long made clear, there can be no military solution to the conflict,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday. “We urge an end to any military hostilities immediately.”
There have been frequent reports of fighting along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border since the end of their 2020 war.
Last week, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of killing one of its soldiers in a border attack.
In August, Azerbaijan said it had lost a soldier, and the Karabakh army said two of its troops had been killed and more than a dozen wounded.
The neighbours have fought two wars over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Armenian-populated enclave in Azerbaijan.
Conflict first broke out in the late 1980s, when both sides were under Soviet rule and Armenian forces captured swathes of territory near Nagorno-Karabakh — long recognised internationally as Azerbaijan’s territory, but with a large Armenian population. About 30,000 people died in the ensuing conflict.
Azerbaijan regained those territories in the 2020 fighting, which ended with a Russian-brokered truce and thousands of residents returning to homes from which they had fled. More than 6,500 people lost their lives in the six-week war.
The leaders of both countries have since met several times to hammer out a treaty intended to establish a lasting peace.
During EU-mediated talks in Brussels in May and April, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to “advance discussions” on a future peace treaty.
Pashinyan on Tuesday held separate phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron on the latest clashes, according to the Armenian government.
The prime minister condemned the “provocative, aggressive actions” of the Azerbaijani armed forces and called for an “adequate response from the international community”, the Armenian government said.