more1_link: https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia … more4_title: OPINIONS OF THE OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY …
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on the need to support Armenia and reevaluate military assistance and security cooperation with Azerbaijan.
“Following nearly a year of a horrific blockade, President Aliyev finally used military power to exert control over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, effectively erasing its Armenian population and rich history. As the world continues to grapple with Azerbaijan’s coordinated, intentional campaign of ethnic cleansing, we must both prioritize support for the Armenians who have been expelled as well as holding Azerbaijan accountable.
“As we look forward we must take steps to ensure that Azerbaijan does not advance militarily in pursuit for further territorial gains, including forcefully condemning inflammatory rhetoric. The United States should halt security assistance to Azerbaijan until it has stopped this brutal campaign. The United States and the international community must also reaffirm our commitment to documenting war crimes and atrocities, as well as continue to support efforts to repatriate prisoners of war, many of whom Azerbaijan continues to detain.
“Finally, we must stand in solidarity with the Armenian people, particularly as Azerbaijan and Turkey eye the potential Zangezur corridor. We should increase humanitarian support for those ethnic Armenians who have left Nagorno-Karabakh. The U.S. should also continue to support democratic reforms that Armenia’s leadership has taken in recent years, including efforts to promote transparency, good governance, and economic cooperation with the United States and Western Europe more broadly.”
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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivers a televised address to the nation in Baku, Azerbaijan, September 20, 2023. Press Service of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Oct 4 (Reuters) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday pulled out of an EU-brokered meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, dealing a blow to prospects for rescuing the peace process between the two countries.
The meeting had been aimed at preventing any further escalation and restoring dialogue after Azerbaijan last month seized back control of a region populated by ethnic Armenians, prompting more than 100,000 of them to flee to Armenia.
Pashinyan, in need of support to tackle the resulting humanitarian crisis and shore up his embattled leadership, said he would still attend Thursday’s talks in Spain with EU Council President Charles Michel and the leaders of France and Germany.
But Azerbaijan’s state-run APA news agency, citing unnamed sources, said Aliyev had decided not to go.
It said Aliyev had wanted his ally Turkey to be represented at the meeting, but that France and Germany had objected, and said that Baku felt “an anti-Azerbaijani atmosphere” had developed among the meeting’s potential participants.
A source in Aliyev’s administration confirmed to Reuters that the president would not go, but said he was prepared to talk instead in a three-way format with Pashinyan and the EU’s Michel.
Aliyev’s forces mounted a lightning offensive last month to retake control of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, whose ethnic Armenian population had broken away in a war in the 1990s. Aliyev said his “iron fist” had restored his country’s sovereignty.
Karabakh has been the focus of two wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the past 30 years and they have yet to seal a peace treaty, a task made more urgent by the latest crisis.
SETBACK
Olesya Vartanyan, South Caucasus analyst at the non-profit International Crisis Group which works to defuse global conflicts, said Aliyev’s no-show was a big setback.
“It was very important for him to come, after this military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, to recommit to the (peace) process with the mediation of the European Union and the United States,” she said.
Vartanyan said advisers to Pashinyan and Aliyev had met French, German and EU officials in Brussels last week to prepare for the talks in Spain and avoid surprises or misunderstandings.
She said experience had shown that the chances of clashes on the ground were higher at moments when the two sides stopped talking. Outstanding bilateral issues include how to define their shared border and reopen transport links that have been severed by decades of conflict.
Azerbaijan’s APA agency said Aliyev’s decision not to attend was partly prompted by “pro-Armenian statements” by French officials and France’s decision, announced on Tuesday, to supply Yerevan with military equipment.
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry also condemned what it said were unfounded comments on Wednesday by French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.
Colonna told a parliamentary hearing that France was not looking to escalate the crisis, but that it was normal to continue defensive weapons sales to Yerevan when “Azerbaijan has never stopped arming itself to carry out offensive actions”.
The EU must send a clear signal that any threats to Armenia’s territorial integrity are unacceptable, said Colonna, who visited Pashinyan on Tuesday.
“I repeat, any action in this direction would give rise to robust reactions,” she said.
APA said Azerbaijan would not attend any future talks that included France.
Omer Celik, spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, backed Aliyev’s decision to shun the talks.
“Mr Aliyev cancelled his Spain visit because the condition of Turkey’s participation was not accepted. We admire this,” he said.
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Washington should withhold security assistance to Azerbaijan and hold it accountable for what he called its “coordinated, intentional campaign of ethnic cleansing” in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan denies ethnic cleansing, saying the Armenians were not forced to leave and would enjoy full civic rights if they stayed. But many of those who fled said they did not trust that promise, given the bloody history between the two peoples.
Additional reporting by Nailia Bagirova, Andrew Osborn, John Irish, Tuvan Gumrukcu, Doina Chacu and Paul Grant; writing by Mark Trevelyan
Editing by Gareth Jones
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Chief writer on Russia and CIS. Worked as a journalist on 7 continents and reported from 40+ countries, with postings in London, Wellington, Brussels, Warsaw, Moscow and Berlin. Covered the break-up of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Security correspondent from 2003 to 2008. Speaks French, Russian and (rusty) German and Polish.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivers a televised address to the nation in Baku, Azerbaijan, September 20, 2023. Press Service of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Oct 4 (Reuters) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday pulled out of an EU-brokered meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, dealing a blow to prospects for rescuing the peace process between the two countries.
The meeting had been aimed at preventing any further escalation and restoring dialogue after Azerbaijan last month seized back control of a region populated by ethnic Armenians, prompting more than 100,000 of them to flee to Armenia.
Pashinyan, in need of support to tackle the resulting humanitarian crisis and shore up his embattled leadership, said he would still attend Thursday’s talks in Spain with EU Council President Charles Michel and the leaders of France and Germany.
But Azerbaijan’s state-run APA news agency, citing unnamed sources, said Aliyev had decided not to go.
It said Aliyev had wanted his ally Turkey to be represented at the meeting, but that France and Germany had objected, and said that Baku felt “an anti-Azerbaijani atmosphere” had developed among the meeting’s potential participants.
A source in Aliyev’s administration confirmed to Reuters that the president would not go, but said he was prepared to talk instead in a three-way format with Pashinyan and the EU’s Michel.
Aliyev’s forces mounted a lightning offensive last month to retake control of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, whose ethnic Armenian population had broken away in a war in the 1990s. Aliyev said his “iron fist” had restored his country’s sovereignty.
Karabakh has been the focus of two wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the past 30 years and they have yet to seal a peace treaty, a task made more urgent by the latest crisis.
SETBACK
Olesya Vartanyan, South Caucasus analyst at the non-profit International Crisis Group which works to defuse global conflicts, said Aliyev’s no-show was a big setback.
“It was very important for him to come, after this military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, to recommit to the (peace) process with the mediation of the European Union and the United States,” she said.
Vartanyan said advisers to Pashinyan and Aliyev had met French, German and EU officials in Brussels last week to prepare for the talks in Spain and avoid surprises or misunderstandings.
She said experience had shown that the chances of clashes on the ground were higher at moments when the two sides stopped talking. Outstanding bilateral issues include how to define their shared border and reopen transport links that have been severed by decades of conflict.
Azerbaijan’s APA agency said Aliyev’s decision not to attend was partly prompted by “pro-Armenian statements” by French officials and France’s decision, announced on Tuesday, to supply Yerevan with military equipment.
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry also condemned what it said were unfounded comments on Wednesday by French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.
Colonna told a parliamentary hearing that France was not looking to escalate the crisis, but that it was normal to continue defensive weapons sales to Yerevan when “Azerbaijan has never stopped arming itself to carry out offensive actions”.
The EU must send a clear signal that any threats to Armenia’s territorial integrity are unacceptable, said Colonna, who visited Pashinyan on Tuesday.
“I repeat, any action in this direction would give rise to robust reactions,” she said.
APA said Azerbaijan would not attend any future talks that included France.
Omer Celik, spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, backed Aliyev’s decision to shun the talks.
“Mr Aliyev cancelled his Spain visit because the condition of Turkey’s participation was not accepted. We admire this,” he said.
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Washington should withhold security assistance to Azerbaijan and hold it accountable for what he called its “coordinated, intentional campaign of ethnic cleansing” in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan denies ethnic cleansing, saying the Armenians were not forced to leave and would enjoy full civic rights if they stayed. But many of those who fled said they did not trust that promise, given the bloody history between the two peoples.
Additional reporting by Nailia Bagirova, Andrew Osborn, John Irish, Tuvan Gumrukcu, Doina Chacu and Paul Grant; writing by Mark Trevelyan
Editing by Gareth Jones
私たちの行動規範：トムソン・ロイター「信頼の原則」
Chief writer on Russia and CIS. Worked as a journalist on 7 continents and reported from 40+ countries, with postings in London, Wellington, Brussels, Warsaw, Moscow and Berlin. Covered the break-up of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Security correspondent from 2003 to 2008. Speaks French, Russian and (rusty) German and Polish.
The last bus carrying ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh left the region Monday, completing a grueling weeklong exodus of over 100,000 people — more than 80% of its residents — after Azerbaijan reclaimed the area in a lightning military operation.
The bus that entered Armenia carried 15 passengers with serious illnesses and mobility problems, said Gegham Stepanyan, a human rights ombudsman for the former breakaway region that Azerbaijan calls Karabakh. He called for information about any other residents who want to leave but have had trouble doing so.
In a 24-hour campaign that began Sept. 19, the Azerbaijani army routed the region’s undermanned and outgunned Armenian forces, forcing them to capitulate. The separatist government then agreed to disband itself by the end of the year, but Azerbaijani authorities are already in charge of the region.
Azerbaijan Interior Ministry spokesman Elshad Hajiyev told The Associated Press on Monday the country’s police have established control of the entire region.
“Work is conducted to enforce law and order in the entire Karabakh region,” he said, adding that Azerbaijani police have moved to “protect the rights and ensure security of the Armenian population in accordance with Azerbaijan’s law.”
While Baku has pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians, most of them hastily fled the region, fearing reprisals or losing the freedom to use their language and practice their religion and customs.
The Armenian government said Monday that 100,514 of the region’s estimated 120,000 residents have crossed into Armenia.
Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan said some people had died during the exhausting and slow journey over the single mountain road into Armenia that took as long as 40 hours. The exodus followed a nine-month Azerbaijani blockade of the region that left many suffering from malnutrition and lack of medicine.
Armenia alleged the closure denied basic food and fuel supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh, but Azerbaijan rejected the accusation, saying the Armenian government was using it for weapons shipments and argued the region could receive supplies through the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam — a solution long resisted by Nagorno-Karabakh authorities.
Sergey Astsetryan, 40, one of the last Nagorno-Karabakh residents to leave in his own vehicle Sunday, said some elderly people decided to stay, adding that others might return if they see it’s safe for ethnic Armenians under Azerbaijani rule.
“My father told me that he will return when he has the opportunity,” Astsetryan told reporters at a checkpoint on the Armenian border.
Azerbaijani authorities have arrested several former members of the separatist government and encouraged ethnic Azerbaijani residents who fled the area amid a war three decades ago to start moving back.
The streets of the regional capital, which is called Khankendi by Azerbaijan and Stepanakert by the Armenians, appeared empty and littered with trash, with doors of deserted businesses flung open.
The sign with the city’s Azerbaijani name was placed at one entrance and Azerbaijani police checkpoints were set up on the outskirts, with officers checking the trunks of cars.
Just outside the city, a herd of cows grazed in an abandoned orchard, and a small dog, which appeared to have been left behind by its owners, silently watched passing vehicles.
Russian peacekeeping troops could be seen on a balcony of one building in the city, and others were at their base outside it, where their vehicles were parked.
On Sunday, Azerbaijan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for former Nagorno-Karabakh leader Arayik Harutyunyan, who led the region before stepping down at the beginning of September. Azerbaijani police arrested one of Harutyunyan’s former prime ministers, Ruben Vardanyan, on Wednesday as he tried to cross into Armenia.
“We put an end to the conflict,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a speech Monday. “We protected our dignity, we restored justice and international law.”
He added that “our agenda is peace in the Caucasus, peace in the region, cooperation, shared benefits, and today, we demonstrate that.”
After six years of separatist fighting ended in 1994 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by Armenia, turning about 1 million of its Azerbaijani residents into refugees. After a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back back parts of the region in the south Caucasus Mountains, along with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had captured earlier.
Armenian authorities have accused the Russian peacekeepers, who were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2020 war, of standing idle and failing to stop the Azerbaijani onslaught. The accusations were rejected by Moscow, which argued that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.
The mutual accusations have further strained the relations between Armenia and its longtime ally Russia, which has accused the Armenian government of a pro-Western tilt.
Allegations of shooting on both sides resumed Monday for the first time since a Sept. 20 cease-fire.
Russian Defense Ministry alleged Monday that its patrol in the region’s capital, conducted jointly with Azerbaijani forces, was fired at by a sniper, although it added that it wasn’t clear who was behind the attack.
Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’ defense ministries, in turn, traded accusations of cross-border shooting. The Armenian military accused Azerbaijan of shooting at one of its vehicles, killing one soldier and wounding two more in an area near the Armenia-Azerbaijani border in the Gegharkunik region of Armenia. The ministry said a car carrying food for soldiers came under fire, along with an ambulance. Azerbaijani forces said the Armenian military opened fire at their positions in the Kalbajar region, which lies between the north of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan alleged Thursday that the exodus of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh amounted to “a direct act of ethnic cleansing and depriving people of their motherland.”
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry strongly rejected Pashinyan’s accusations, arguing their departure was “their personal and individual decision and has nothing to do with forced relocation.”
Speaking to the AP in Lachin, the Azerbaijani town that had been controlled by separatists for nearly three decades until Baku’s forces reclaimed it in 2020, Solmaz Abbasova, 67, said returning home was a dream that sustained her family since the earlier exodus.
“It was a boundless happiness to come back home after 31 years and see the things which were so dear — the land, the river, the forest and the lake,” Abbasova said, adding that her husband and son were with her but their daughter died before she could return.
She said the Armenians are leaving the region safely by their own choice, unlike her family and other Azerbaijani refugees, adding that many were killed as they tried to leave.
“I feel sorry for simple Armenians leaving Karabakh now, but there is a big difference: They and their children aren’t being hunted and killed as they killed our refugees,” she said. “They have a choice whether to stay or leave calmly.”
Azerbaijan’s presidential office said the country has presented a plan for the “reintegration” of ethnic Armenians in the region, noting that “the equality of rights and freedoms, including security, is guaranteed to everyone regardless of their ethnic, religious or linguistic affiliation.”
It said the plan envisages improving infrastructure to bring it line with the rest of the country and offers tax exemptions, subsidies, low-interest loans and other incentives. The statement added Azerbaijani authorities have held three rounds of talks with representatives of the region’s ethnic Armenian population and will continue the discussions.
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Associated Press writers Aida Sultanova in Shusha, Azerbaijan, and Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, contributed.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna has announced that France has agreed to sign a contract to provide military equipment to Armenia. She made this announcement during a joint press conference with the Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Yerevan on October 3.
Colonna emphasized that France’s consent to this future contract will enable Armenia to acquire military equipment for its defense. However, she did not provide further details about the agreement at the time of the announcement.
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