The Georgian para taekwondo team claimed three medals, including one gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the World Para Taekwondo Championships in Mexico, with two Georgian athletes meeting each other in an all-Georgian final of the tournament, Azernews reports, citing Agenda.
Day: September 24, 2023
Armen Grigoryan’s interview with Voice of America
It is possible that the meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev scheduled for July 21 in Brussels will take place earlier. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan stated this in an interview with the Armenian service of the Voice of America. However, the government has not yet received information about changing the date of the meeting.
Grigoryan, who is in the United States on a working visit, also talked about strengthening cooperation with the United States on security issues, the possibility of a new war, Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations, the functions of Russian peacekeepers and Russia’s fulfillment of its obligations.
About cooperation with the USA. Does the alliance with Russia hinder Armenia?
The Secretary of the Security Council has been in the United States since July 4, obviously with a broad agenda for the visit. In an interview, he emphasized that Armenia uses “existing platforms” to expand cooperation with the United States in the field of security. Options are also being discussed on how to “open new doors”.
“We have made great progress. The results will be visible in the long run. Armenia is ready to move forward. Currently, Yerevan is seeking to deepen and expand the bilateral agenda with the United States,” he said.
When asked whether the fact that Armenia is a member of economic and military unions operating under the auspices of Russia hinders cooperation with the Americans, he replied that “at the moment there are no such problems.”
Grigoryan sees great potential for intensifying and strengthening the Armenian-American relations. Among the areas of cooperation, he singled out the economy and energy, while he assured that everything would be discussed – from minor issues to “broad cooperation in the field of security.”
On the CSTO and Russia: “We are waiting for the solution of the problems that have arisen”
Grigoryan said that Armenia openly discusses the problems that have arisen with the CSTO, a military alliance operating under the auspices of Russia, with the member countries of the structure. And to search for solutions, he uses the platforms of the organization itself.
The members of the CSTO are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The question of the effectiveness of the organization and the meaning of Armenia’s membership in it arose before the Pashinyan government in May 2021. Then the Armenian authorities for the first time announced the invasion of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces into its sovereign territory, but the organization did not respond to a request for military assistance to an ally. Then the situation repeated itself, which further deepened the crisis of relations. At the same time, Armenia tried to avoid talking about leaving the CSTO. But the country’s leadership has repeatedly suggested that “the CSTO is leaving Armenia.”
“We see that the CSTO member states in a certain way, at least publicly, declare the legitimacy of the problems raised by Armenia [the President of Belarus made such a statement – JAMnews]. It is very important that our partners understand the legitimacy of the issues we raise. And we expect these problems to be resolved,” Grigoryan said.
According to him, the issue of Russia’s unfulfilled obligation to supply weapons, for which it was paid, remains on the agenda of the Armenian-Russian relations:
“All problems must be openly and calmly discussed with our partners in order to find a solution. These problems are of strategic importance for Armenia. I hope that the partners have an understanding of how important these problems are for the Armenian side, and that they will be resolved.”
Armen Grigoryan’s interview with Voice of America
On a possible war: “All responsibility for the escalation lies with Azerbaijan”
According to Grigoryan, the ongoing war and geopolitical processes in Ukraine have a negative impact on the South Caucasus.
“These processes are superimposed by the maximalist policy of Azerbaijan, military rhetoric and steps taken in the form of various escalations. Azerbaijan follows this path and tries to destabilize the region. All responsibility for the escalation lies with Azerbaijan,” he said, answering a question about the likelihood of a new war.
On negotiations with Azerbaijan: “There are still unresolved issues”
During the interview, the Secretary of the Security Council touched upon key issues on the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations:
- “There are issues that have not yet been resolved, but Yerevan is firmly committed to the peace agenda and is interested in the possibility of a peace agreement as soon as possible.”
- “The security and rights of the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh do not concern the territories, but the people, their rights and security.”
- “It is necessary to create international mechanisms for Stepanakert and Baku to discuss the security and rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. There is an opportunity to create such a mechanism.”
- “The international community must be involved in overcoming the conflict, because without an international mechanism it is very difficult to imagine this.”
- “There are many unresolved problems in the negotiation process. One of the most important issues is the issue of border delimitation. Will it take place on the basis of the map of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces of 1975? There is no final agreement on the cards yet.”
- “The unblocking of roads will mean the implementation of the concept of the “Armenian Crossroads”. This also includes the construction of the North-South highway. Armenia, as a country, will become a more active participant in the regional trade turnover, which will bring it additional income, and economic activity can create additional security guarantees.”
Armen Grigoryan’s interview with Voice of America
“Armenia did not deviate from its obligations”
Grigoryan was asked if his statement about Armenia’s control of its roads after the unblocking of regional communications is an attempt to amend the November 9 statement [the document that marked the end of the war in Karabakh in 2020]. He gave a negative answer, stressing that the specific functions of the Russian services were enshrined in a decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 10.
According to a tripartite document signed by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, after the unblocking of regional communications, “transport communications are controlled by the border service of the FSB of Russia.” However, the Armenian authorities and personally Armen Grigoryan say that the roads provided by Armenia will be under its sovereign control.
The Secretary of the Security Council explains that the border service of Russia should only monitor whether Armenia is fulfilling its obligations or not.
“In other words, they have been given the function to make sure that the road is unblocked, that Armenia does not deviate from fulfilling its obligations. And this is subject to verification, for example, with the help of cameras,” he stressed.
“Russian peacekeepers must fulfill their function”
According to the same agreement, Grigoryan recalls, Russian peacekeepers must ensure the safety of the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, since December last year, the Lachin corridor has been blocked, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with the outside world has been closed. And this is a “serious problem”. The expectations of the Armenian side regarding the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in NK did not come true.
He stressed that according to the November 2020 statement, the “presence of Azerbaijan” was not supposed to be in the Lachin corridor, Russian peacekeepers were supposed to ensure free movement along the corridor:
“Today there is no such movement. And we expect that the peacekeepers will fulfill their mission in full, so that the people living in Nagorno-Karabakh would not experience a humanitarian crisis. The ongoing crisis is deepening.”
“Oskanyan had this opportunity for 10 years”
Commenting on the proposal of former Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan to form a group of diplomats and negotiate with Azerbaijan, Grigoryan stressed:
“Vardan Oskanyan had a corresponding opportunity during his ten years in office, but if he could not do it in ten years, how will he do it in three months? The attitude towards the state is also surprising, that is, it is proposed to create a second state or a state institution for such questions. This is very frivolous. I don’t think it should be a discussion point.”
The former foreign minister of Armenia, who for 10 years participated in the negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, addressed the current authorities of the country: “Give me, a group of diplomats, a chance, keep quiet for two or three months, we will take responsibility. I assure you that there will be serious progress in the negotiations, a sharp turn in favor of Armenia.”
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Armen Grigoryan’s interview with Voice of America
Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh accompanied by medical workers board a bus at a temporary accommodation center in the village of Kornidzor on September 24.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has told his Caucasus nation on the heels of a bruising defeat for allies in a breakaway region of Azerbaijan that while Baku and Russian peacekeepers bear responsibility for protecting ethnic Armenians there, if necessary his government “will welcome our brothers and sisters of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia with all care.”
Yerevan reported on September 24 that the first several hundred refugees from the region had begun arriving in Armenia, with Nagorno-Karabakh leaders indicating that nearly all of the estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians are likely to leave for the Caucasus nation’s territory as soon as possible, saying they did not want to live under Azerbaijani control.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s Security Council said Pashinian would conduct previously arranged talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Grenada, Spain, on October 5, with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and EU chief Charles Michel also participating.
In a televised address to his nation of around 3 million, Pashinian also seemingly delivered a barb to Russia and Moscow-led efforts at regional security.
“The attacks carried out by Azerbaijan against the Republic of Armenia in recent years lead to an obvious conclusion that the external security systems in which we are involved are not effective from the point of view of the state interests and security of the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinian said.
Pashinian and many Armenians blame Russia — which traditionally has served as Armenia’s protector in the region — for failing to use its peacekeeping force to protect ethnic Armenians in Karabakh.
Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which Russia has tried to position as a counterweight to NATO, although as recently as this month its armed forces were conducting exercises with U.S. forces.
Pashinian has been on rocky political footing since overwhelming Azerbaijani forces retook much of the territory in and around Nagorno-Karabakh held for decades by ethnic Armenians in a six-week war in late 2020 that led to a Russian-brokered cease-fire.
Then this week the breakaway leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh was thrashed by a lightning Azerbaijani offensive that led Baku to declare victory in returning its sovereignty to the territory.
Around the time Pashinian was addressing the nation on September 24, an adviser to the defeated leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh said virtually all of the territory’s ethnic Armenians will leave for Armenia in a bitter exodus from “our historic lands.”
Davit Babayan, an adviser for foreign policy to the separatist government’s de facto leader Samvel Shahramanian, told Reuters on September 24 that “Our people do not want to live as part of Azerbaijan. Ninety-nine point nine percent prefer to leave our historic lands.”
He said nothing of a time frame and there was otherwise no official position on a possible mass exodus.
Calls have increased in urgency for humanitarian help from the United Nations and the international community since the ethnic Armenian separatists agreed to a Russian-brokered cease-fire after a 24-hour blitz by Azerbaijani military forces on September 19-20.
Baku has repeatedly vowed to ensure the rights of what ethnic Armenians say is around 120,000 locals but the Azerbaijani side says is around half that figure.
“The fate of our poor people will go down in history as a disgrace and a shame for the Armenian people and for the whole civilized world,” Babayan said. “Those responsible for our fate will one day have to answer before God for their sins.”
Azerbaijan again signaled victory in Nagorno-Karabakh while Armenia urged international help to ensure the safety of the local ethnic Armenian population in competing speeches before the United Nations General Assembly, as evacuation and disarmament efforts continue.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, meanwhile used his UN appearance to say the two post-Soviet foes have “put things in order” and now it’s time to build “mutual trust.”
The trio of September 23 speeches came as the Yerevan-backed separatists said they were implementing the terms of the days-old cease-fire but concerns continued over the safety of tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians in the territory and with evacuations of the wounded under way.
Azerbaijan and Armenia’s foreign ministers struck opposing tones in their speeches to the UN forum.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov hailed the success of his country’s September 19-20 military campaign in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, as achieving the “goals of anti-terrorist measures.”
“Armenia and its subordinate illegal regime were forced to agree to disarmament, liquidation of all so-called structures and withdrawal of forces from Azerbaijan,” Bayramov said.
In his speech to the UN General Assembly several hours later, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan lamented Yerevan’s repeated calls for greater UN activity to break a nine-month-long de facto Azerbaijani blockade of the region before the latest offensive.
Armenia’s government has distanced itself from the latest cease-fire mediated by Russia’s peacekeeping force in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 20, with daily protests targeting Pashinian and his government.
Mirzoyan accused much larger neighbor Azerbaijan of pursuing a “path of war” and disregarding accepted international principles.
He said the message from Azerbaijan has been that “you can talk about peace, but we can go on the path of war, and you will not be able to change anything.”
Mirzoyan said the latest casualty toll of this week’s Azerbaijani actions were “more than 200 confirmed dead and 400 wounded, including civilians, women, and children.” He said the fates of hundreds more remained “uncertain.”
He also repeated Yerevan’s “imperative” call for a UN mission in Nagorno-Karabakh “to monitor and assess the human rights, humanitarian and security situation on the ground, “with “unhindered access.”
Armenia’s Health Ministry announced on September 24 that ambulances were transporting 23 seriously injured individuals from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenian territory.
RFE/RL reporters said the first refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh had arrived at a humanitarian aid facility in the border village of Kornidzor on September 24. Photos showed men, women, and children gathered around Red Cross tents and other receiving areas.
Separatist authorities said Russian peacekeepers would accompany those wishing to leave the region and go to Armenia. Russia’s Defense Ministry said peacekeepers had escorted 311 refugees to Armenia by midday on September 24.
In his speech to the General Assembly on September 23, Russia’s Lavrov said “the time has come for confidence-building measures between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
He said Russia’s peacekeepers would assist, and he accused Western governments of inserting themselves unnecessarily in the Caucasus.
Lavrov said that “Yerevan and Baku actually put the situation in order.”
Nagorno-Karabakh‘s ethnic Armenian separatist leaders said on September 23 said they were implementing the cease-fire, including evacuations of injured civilians to Armenia with the help of Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The separatists said that, as part of the September 20 agreement, aid was to be delivered from Armenia to Stepanakert — the de facto capital of the breakaway region under ethnic Armenian control — through the Lachin Corridor, for decades the main link between Karabakh and Armenia.
Also as part of the agreement, separatists said, talks would take place on “the political future” of the region, which is suffering from shortages of food, fuel, and electricity.
Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh reported that Karabakh separatists had already handed over more than 800 firearms, grenades, mortars, anti-tank guided missiles, and anti-tank missile systems, and the disarmament process would continue over the weekend.
U.S. Democratic Senator Gary Peters, who is leading a congressional delegation to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, called for international observers needed to monitor the situation and said people in Karabakh were “very fearful.”
“I am certainly very concerned about what’s happening in Nagorno-Karabakh right now. I think there needs to be some visibility,” Peters told reporters.
Azerbaijan has vowed to protect the rights of civilians there.
The offensive was halted on September 20 after Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leadership accepted a proposal by the Russian peacekeeping mission, although sporadic fighting has been reported.
Baku has said it envisages an amnesty for Karabakh Armenian fighters who give up their arms and seeks to reintegrate the territory’s ethnic Armenian population. Some separatist fighters have vowed to continue to resist Azerbaijani control.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Pashinian in a phone call on September 23 that Washington continues to support Armenia’s “sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity” and that it has “deep concern for the ethnic Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
During a special meeting of the UN Security Council after this week’s cease-fire, council members including the United States and Russia called for peace, while Armenian and Azerbaijani officials traded barbs.
During a short but bloody war in 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured much of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as seven surrounding districts that had been controlled since the 1990s by ethnic Armenians with Yerevan’s support.
Biden Assures Zelenskiy Of Global Support: Abrams Tanks Coming, But ATACMS Will Have To Wait Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Baku, September 18, AZERTAC
“Currently, the Armenian ideologists, referring to history, are raising the issue of impossibility of coexistence of Azerbaijanis and Armenians. Then, the question arises, how is it that before the start of the military conflict, the Armenian population have lived comfortably as respectable citizens in Baku and other parts of Azerbaijan, including Garabagh for a long time, having enough influence in the society,” said Head of the State Security Service of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons Ali Naghiyev as he addressed the international conference on “Increasing national and global efforts to clarify the fate of missing persons”.
Naghiyev noted that unlike the mono-ethnic Armenia, the Russian, Georgian, Jewish, and other peoples currently living in the country form the basis of the multinational and multi-confessional Azerbaijani state.
“We invite the Armenian population of Azerbaijan to live together with us. The Azerbaijani state and Azerbaijanis do not want war. Today, we are concerned about the rapid restoration of the Azerbaijani settlements destroyed as a result of military aggression, and return of the 750,000 IDPs to their homes as soon as possible,” Naghiyev added.