Month: July 2020

Aliyev Slams Karabakh Mediators

On By Armond TsaturyanIn Armenia Azerbaijan, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Aliyev Slams Karabakh Mediators

Azerbaijan -- President Ilham Aliyev speaks in Ganja, June 25, 2020.
Azerbaijan — President Ilham Aliyev speaks in Ganja, June 25, 2020.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has lambasted the U.S., Russian and French mediators trying to broker a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and said the most recent Armenian-Azerbaijani talks were fruitless.

In an interview with Azerbaijani television aired on Tuesday, Aliyev denounced the mediators co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group for reiterating last week that “there is no military solution to the conflict.”

“Their main point is that the problem cannot be solved militarily,” he said. “Who said that? We expect more serious, clear and targeted statements from the mediators.”

“In essence, no negotiations are held right now,” claimed Aliyev. “The video conferences of the [Armenian and Azerbaijani] foreign ministers are meaningless and are only leaving the impression that the Minsk Group exists.”

“As I have said before, we will not negotiate for the sake of negotiating and we want substantive negotiations without any change in their format. In that case, we will participate in them. Otherwise, I see no need for pointless negotiations.”

Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian and Elmar Mammadyarov as well as the three mediators most recently talked via video link on June 30. They reported no progress towards a Karabakh settlement.

In a joint statement issued right after the talks, the Minsk Group co-chairs said they urged the conflicting parties to “take additional steps to strengthen the ceasefire and to prepare the populations for peace.” They also said the two ministers agreed to hold another video conference in July and to meet in person “as soon as possible.”

Yerevan and Baku traded bitter recriminations both before and during the latest round of peace talks. Speaking at a June 25 meeting with Azerbaijani army officers, Aliyev described Armenia’s post-Soviet history as “shameful,” saying that his country’s arch-foe was for decades ruled by “criminals and thieves.” He also said that the 2018 popular protests that brought Nikol Pashinian to power were not a democratic revolution.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry hit back at Aliyev, saying that he leads one of the world’s most corrupt and repressive regimes which feels threatened by “democratic changes taking place in Armenia.”

Source: https://www.azatutyun.am/a/30711929.html

Azerbaijan Attacks Armenia Under the Cover of the Global Pandemic

On By Armond TsaturyanIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Azerbaijan Launches Military Offensive Against Armenia Despite Global Ceasefire Appeal, Incites Pro-War Protests in Baku Calling for “Death to Armenians”

 

On July 12, at around 12:30 pm, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces attempted to violate the RA state border in the direction of Tavush region with an UAZ-model vehicle. After the warning of the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani servicemen left the UAZ-model vehicle and returned to their positions.

At 1:45 pm, the Azerbaijani servicemen repeated their attempt to take the border position of the Armenian armed forces, using artillery fire, but were suppressed by the Armenian side and pushed back, suffering losses.

In the evening, the Azerbaijani side resumed firing from the 82 mm mortar and tank in the direction of the same position. The shootings continued at regular intervals throughout the night.

All the attempts of the opponent were targeted by the units of the Armenian Armed Forces and neutralized.

On the morning of July 13, the opponent resumed provocative actions, continuing to shell in the direction of the Armenian positions. The RA Armed Forces subdivisions gave an adequate response.

The Armenian side did not suffer any losses.

Armenian Defense Minister David Tonoyan is in constant contact with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk. The Minister of Defense has informed that the personnel and command of the Armenian army are instructed to still remain restrained and in case of provocations by the opponent in the direction of the Armenian borders, to respond as needed, even to take new favorable positions.

The Armenian Armed Forces are not firing on the Azerbaijani settlements. Only the engineering infrastructure and technical means of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces are targeted.

The Azerbaijani military-political leadership will bear all the responsibility for the losses on the Azerbaijani side and for the consequences of the intensification of the situation.