Day: April 2, 2024

#Greece‘s ambassador to #Armenia accompanies EU border monitoring mission along #Azerbaijan‘s Nakhichevan exclave border. Ambassadors are becoming a common sight accompanying the monitoring mission at times. https://t.co/BsugojAQcD

— Nagorno Karabakh Observer (@NKobserver) April 2, 2024

#Armenia reports #Azerbaijan opened fire on its military positions near Kut and and Tegh villages on 1 and 2 April, no losses reported.

Source: https://t.co/kBEpNcS6ku

— Nagorno Karabakh Observer (@NKobserver) April 2, 2024

#Azerbaijan reports its positions along the Nakhichevan exclave with #Armenia came under fire during the evening of 1 April (1). Armenian defence authorities refuted this as misinformation. (2)

1.https://t.co/Co73fEoqA4
2.https://t.co/kBEpNcS6ku

— Nagorno Karabakh Observer (@NKobserver) April 2, 2024

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley has met with senior Armenian officials in Yerevan during a tour of the three South Caucasus countries, it emerged on Tuesday.

Armenia was apparently the first stop of the regional tour revealed by Paley in a series of tweets.

“In Yerevan, I had insightful meetings with Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs [Mnatsakan Safaryan,] National Security Council, Central Bank, and State Revenue Committee on Iran, border security, sanctions enforcement, and Armenia’s economic and foreign policy diversification,” he wrote on the X social media platform.

None of those Armenian agencies issued statements on the meetings with Paley. The policy “diversification” cited by the latter is a euphemism used by the Armenian government in its ongoing efforts to forge closer ties with West amid the continuing deterioration of Armenia’s relations with Russia. In recent months, Iran has repeatedly expressed unease over the pro-Western tilt in Yerevan’s foreign policy.

Paley posted similar messages on his talks in Georgia and Azerbaijan. As well as holding “fruitful discussions” with Azerbaijani officials, he met with Israel’s ambassador in Baku, George Deek. He said they discussed “our close coordination to address concerns about the Iranian regime’s destabilizing behavior in the region.”

“Wonderful to hear about Israel’s historic and cultural ties to Azerbaijan,” added the U.S. diplomat.

Israel has long been one of Azerbaijan’s main suppliers of weapons and other military hardware. Those supplies continued during and after the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Visiting Israel in March 2023, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov thanked the Jewish state for supporting Azerbaijan during the six-week war. His then Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen reportedly declared that the two nations will form a “united front” against Iran.
The close Azerbaijani-Israeli ties are one of the reasons for lingering tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran.

Tehran has also warned against any “geopolitical” border changes in the South Caucasus in response to Baku’s demands for an extraterritorial corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave that would pass through Syunik, the sole Armenian province bordering Iran. Iranian leaders say they would not tolerate attempts to strip the Islamic Republic of the common border and transport links with Armenia.

The Armenian and Iranian governments have pledged to help increase bilateral trade. Their joint commission on economic cooperation most recently met in Tehran in February. Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian visited the Iranian capital three weeks later.

French Foreign Minister Compares Azerbaijan to Russia

France’s foreign minister, Stéphane Séjourné, accused Azerbaijan of threatening Armenia’s territorial integrity and voiced concern over the “extreme rhetoric” emanating from Baku.

Séjourné met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who traveled to Paris ahead of his trip to Brussels, where he and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Friday.

“We discussed the territorial integrity of Armenia, which is under threat from Azerbaijan today, and let me tell you how concerned we are about that, given that the rhetoric from Baku is becoming more and more extreme,” Séjourné said during a joint press conference with Blinken.

Séjourné ‘s comments came mere hours after Armenia’s defense ministry reported that Azerbaijani forces targeted Armenian military positions in the Gegharkunik and Syunik provinces later Monday and early Tuesday morning.

“We see more and more false accusations from Baku blaming Armenia for the escalation, even though Armenia is probably the only country that wants and tries to avoid conflict in the region,” said Séjourné.

In an unprecedented comment from a Western diplomat, Séjourné compared Azerbaijan’s treatment of Armenia to Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine, saying that this behavior warrants closer scrutiny.

“If we look more closely, we can see many common elements and similarities with what is happening with Russia and Ukraine, and I think we should pay attention to this six months before COP29 in Baku,” Séjourné stressed, referring to the UN climate summit, which will take place in Baku later this year.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry was quick to accuse France of escalating tensions in the region.

Aykhan Hajizadeh, the spokesperson for Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said that Séjourné’s statements were “another vivid example of France’s efforts to create tension in the region and obstruct the peace process.”

“France presenting Armenia — which for 30 years occupied Azerbaijan’s territories, caused the displacement of almost one million Azerbaijanis from their native land and committed massacres and crimes against humanity — as a peaceful country demonstrates how fake that country’s policies have been both during the mediation period and following the the 44-day patriotic war,” Hajizadeh was quoted by the Turan news agency as saying.