Shares of European luxury goods groups fell on September 12 after L’Oreal was downgraded by Deutsche Bank to sell
11:47, 12 September 2023
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Bob Menendez warned U.S. lawmakers that Azerbaijan’s blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh has all the hallmarks of genocide and pledged to hold Azerbaijan accountable.
The Senator called on the Biden Administration to enforce Section 907 and stop all security assistance to Azerbaijan. He went on to call for sanctions against the Aliyev regime for war crimes and ethnic cleansing.
“To the men organizing and carrying out this brutal campaign, we will hold you accountable for your crimes, even if it takes a lifetime – you will pay a price, you will face justice – and I certainly will not rest until you do so,” Menendez said in the U.S. Senate.
The Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh, which is home to 120,000 Armenians, to Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022.
The Azerbaijani blockade constitutes a gross violation of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, which established that the 5km-wide Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Furthermore, on February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since. The ICJ reaffirmed its order on 6 July 2023.
Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor.
Many experts and officials have said that the Azeri actions constitute genocide.
20:20, 6 September 2023
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has again called on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to reopen the Lachin Corridor, the U.S. State Department announced Wednesday in a readout of the call which took place on September 1.
“Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on September 1 to express the United States’ concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. He reiterated our call to reopen the Lachin Corridor to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic, while recognizing the importance of additional routes from Azerbaijan. The Secretary underscored the need for a dialogue and compromise and the importance of building confidence between the parties. He pledged continued U.S. support to the peace process,” the U.S. State Department said in the readout.
Georgian Public Defender Levan Ioseliani discussed human rights and his country’s efforts to obtain the European Union membership candidate status later this year at meetings with United States officials during his first official visit to the country in the position, his office said on Tuesday.
Public Defender of Georgia Holds Meetings at U.S. @StateDept. Levan Ioseliani met with Mark Cameron, Director of the Office of EUR/CARC, Lisa A. Johnson, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of INL and @DamonMacWilson President of NED. https://t.co/CK4HuitH3g pic.twitter.com/WcB7FykW9K
— Ombudsman of Georgia (@Ombudsman_Geo) September 12, 2023
Ioseliani met with Mark Cameron, the Director of the US State Department’s Office of Caucasus Affairs and Regional Conflicts, Lisa Johnson, the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and Damon Wilson, the President and CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy foundation, the Ombudsman’s press office noted.
The discussions also reviewed topics of Georgia’s domestic judiciary, the rights of prisoners, media freedom, the legal status of the non-Governmental sector and the issues of minorities in the country.
In his remarks, the Georgian official highlighted the importance of the US support for the independence of his country’s domestic institutions.
Azerbaijan is glad to see a friendship and mutual understanding between Israel and Türkiye, Hikmat Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration, in an interview with the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS, News.Az reports.
“We would like our friends to be friends among themselves,” Hajiyev noted.
“Azerbaijan is glad to see a friendship and mutual understanding between Israel and Türkiye and would be happy to further develop communication between the two countries, perhaps in a trilateral format,” the presidential aide added.