Day: December 6, 2023

“My objective is Armenia’s future,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Wednesday when responding to a question posed by an opposition lawmaker, who inquired about the government’s plans for the future of Artsakh.

This statement was seen another attempt by Pashinyan to distance himself from Artsakh, after recognizing Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity that includes Baku sovereignty over Artsakh. His numerous declaration were used by Azerbaijan to justify its actions against the Armenian of Artsakh, who were forced to flee their homes after Azerbaijani forces launched large-scale attack on September 19.

Seyran Ohanyan, the leader of the opposition Hayastan faction asked Pashinyan whether his government had a strategy for the future of Artsakh.

In response, the prime minister said he wants to strengthen Armenia’s security and sovereignty. He used the opportunity to blame Armenia’s form regimes for the loss of Artsakh and claimed that certain forces used the Artsakh situation to undermine Armenia’s independence and its institutions.

Ohanyan retorted by accusing Pashinyan of avoiding and evading the questions.

“It is during your leadership that Artsakh was depopulated,” Ohanyan fired back. “And it is during your rule that negotiations with Azerbaijan came to a halt because of your contradictory statements and actions.”

“You are doing nothing to reclaim our historic territory of Artsakh, or, at the very least, negotiate toward that end,” Ohanyan said.

In response, Pashinyan said that prime minister of Armenia “my objective is the future of Armenia.”

“The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia gives me responsibility for the future of the Republic of Armenia and I am focused on that issue,” added Pashinyan.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Ben Cardin sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to hold Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev’s regime accountable for ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and to continue the United States’ support for Armenians who were forced to flee the region, informed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“While terrible tragedies elsewhere have diverted the world’s attention, I write to ensure that we remain focused on holding the Aliyev regime accountable for its brazen campaign of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and continue to support Armenians who were forced to flee,” Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland said.

“As you are well aware, in September 2023, President Ilham Aliyev launched a military campaign that drove around 100,000 Armenians out of their homes, and during which Azerbaijani forces reportedly killed and wounded civilians. These attacks were not only a clear violation of the November 2020 ceasefire but also reportedly involved heinous atrocities,” added the powerful committee chair.

“Prior to the military invasion, Azerbaijan was effectively imposing a humanitarian blockade on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, preventing the delivery of food, medicine, and basic humanitarian supplies. Beyond the blockade, the State Department’s 2022 Human Right Report cites numerous reports of Azerbaijani forces committing extrajudicial killings of Armenians,” Cardin pointed out.

“Furthermore, both before and after September, Azerbaijan has continued its well-documented practice of seizing and destroying Armenian cultural property in areas it controls, in further pursuit of its efforts to erase Armenian history and culture,” emphasized the letter.

“While Azerbaijan thus far is abiding by the terms of the September 20, 2023 ceasefire, I remain deeply concerned that Azerbaijan could take further military action to achieve additional political gains, particularly in regards to the so-called Zangezour corridor,” Cardin stressed.

“I strongly encourage you to continue to work with international partners and organizations to support accountability for the Aliyev regime’s actions. Specifically, I would like to know what steps you have taken and plan to take regarding the following:

• Supporting efforts to substantiate and collect evidence regarding the Aliyev regime’s potential commission of war crimes and other atrocities;
• Holding Azerbaijani officials accountable for any such acts, including the application of potential sanctions and visa restrictions;
• Urging appropriate international justice tribunals to pursue accountability for Azerbaijani officials;
• Making clear to Azerbaijan that aggression against its neighbors is unacceptable;
• Supporting Armenians displaced in the September 2023 assault,” highlighted Cardin.

“It is critically important that the United States continues our commitment to prevent the commission of atrocities, protect vulnerable civilians, and hold those responsible for atrocities accountable for their actions. We must send a clear message to those who believe they can operate with impunity,” Cardin concluded.

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—An Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty would not be enough to preclude another war between the two countries, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday.

“I hope that it will not take long to reach an agreement,” Aliyev said during a forum in Baku organized by his administration. “But I want to point out that a peace treaty does not fully guarantee peace. We know of many peace treaties that were annulled and we know of countries that have lived without such treaties.”

“We know very well what is happening in Armenia and we know very well that Armenia has bad advisers in European capitals … That is why we need to have guarantees that there will be no more wars between the two countries and that Armenia fully accepts the new status quo,” he added, according to Azerbaijani media.

Aliyev did not elaborate on the safeguards against Armenian “revanchism” that would satisfy him.

Armenian leaders have said, for their part, that they want clear international guarantees for Baku’s compliance with the peace treaty. They have suggested that Aliyev is reluctant to sign the kind of agreement that would preclude Azerbaijani territorial claims to Armenia.

Aliyev twice cancelled EU-mediated talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan planned for October. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov similarly withdrew from a November 20 meeting with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan that was due to take place in Washington. Baku accused the Western powers of pro-Armenian bias and proposed direct negotiations with Yerevan.

Mirzoyan deplored Baku’s “refusal to come to meetings organized by various international actors, including the U.S. and the EU” when he addressed last week an annual conference of the top diplomats of OSCE member states. Bayramov countered that Yerevan itself is dragging out talks on the peace treaty.


Aliyev echoed that claim on Wednesday. He said that the Armenian side took more than two months to respond to most recent Azerbaijani proposals on contentious provisions of the treaty made in September. He said the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry is now examining the written replies sent by Yerevan on November 21.

“After that, it would be appropriate for the foreign ministers to meet,” he said. The Azerbaijani leader said nothing about his next meeting with Pashinyan.