Weekly update
23 January
The peace deal to end the fighting over the long-disputed Nagorno-Karabakh consists of terms indicating a clear victory for Azerbaijan, reported northbynorthwestern.com. A transit corridor will be established along the southern border of Armenia with Iran, which will connect Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan. Armenia lost several key territories like Shushi. As a political science Ph.D student at Northwestern University, Miruna Barnoschi said that Russia threw Armenia under the bus for strategic gains and regional dominance. “Russia wanted to get ahead in terms of having control over the South Caucasus region that is geopolitically strategic.” Two oil pipelines, Baku-Tbilisi-Supsa and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, as well as the South Caucasus natural gas pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, were key to Russia’s decisions throughout the conflict. “Russia wants to make sure it has control over this corridor that is the gateway to Europe and the world market in terms of energy, and it was willing to leave Armenia in the dust," Barnoschi said. Russia will also control the land corridor that will connect mainland Azerbaijan with its landlocked exclave Nakhchivan. The transit corridor connecting Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan, which borders Turkey, would provide Ankara with easier access to the strategically important South Caucasus. The territorial gains Azerbaijan made are also a victory for Turkey, signaling its rising influence in the region. The Russian-brokered agreement poses a great threat to Iran’s foreign policy and its long-term interests in the South Caucasus. As Azerbaijan gains full control over its border with Iran, Tehran may be alarmed by the possibility of an increased Israeli military presence in the border.
22 January
The European Parliament has strongly condemned Turkey’s “destabilizing role” in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, accused Ankara of sending “terrorist fighters” to the conflict zone and called for an end to Turkish military aid to Azerbaijan. According to azatutyun.am in two resolutions the European Union’s legislative body also welcomed the Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war on November 10. But it cautioned that the conflict remains unresolved. One of the resolutions calls for a Karabakh settlement based on the Basic Principles, a framework peace accord that has long been jointly advanced by the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group: the United States, Russia and France. It stresses the “urgent need” to ensure “the security of the Armenian population and its cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh.” Turkey provided full diplomatic and military support to Azerbaijan during the six-week war. Turkish combat drones heavily used by the Azerbaijani army are believed to have been a key factor behind Baku’s military victory. According to Western media reports, Ankara also recruited thousands of jihadist fighters from the Middle East to fight on Azerbaijan’s side. The European Parliament resolution “strongly condemns the destabilizing role of Turkey which further undermines the fragile stability in the whole of the South Caucasus region.” It says the Turks should “refrain from any interference in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including offering military support to Azerbaijan.”
21 January
The Biden Administration’s incoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken “will work with Congress, as well as USAID, international organizations such as the UN, and our allies and partners to meet humanitarian needs in the [Karabakh] region,” In line with armenian.usc.edu Blinken wrote this in response to questions from chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). The questions and answers were released by ANCA. Last November, then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that U.S. was providing about $5 million in humanitarian aid to Karabakh in response to the war. Since the early 2000’s, Congress allocated funding for humanitarian programs in Karabakh, including rebuilding of housing, water supply and more recently demining. Blinken also said that he “strongly support(s) U.S. funding for demining efforts in Nagorno-Karabakh,” a program that was phased out under the Trump Administration and now effectively replaced with the one implemented by the Russian peacekeeping forces introduced into Karabakh since last November. At the same time, Blinken was non-committal with regard to suspension of U.S. aid to Azerbaijan in response to the war jointly launched by Azerbaijan and Turkey and resulting in more than 7,000 deaths. Calling it a “recent outbreak of hostilities,” the new secretary of state said that “if the circumstances warrant, the Biden-Harris administration will be prepared to suspend waivers of requirements under section 907 of the Freedom Support Act.” Blinken also promised to “reinvigorate U.S. engagement to find a permanent settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that protects the security of Nagorno-Karabakh and helps to ensure another war does not break out.”
20 January
Incoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez (D-NJ) questioned Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken on U.S.-Turkey policy, condemning Turkey’s role in Azerbaijan’s brutal attack on Artsakh and issuing a call for proper Biden Administration recognition of the Armenian Genocide, reported ANCA. According to asbarez.com in response to a question about the continuation of U.S. sanctions on Turkey for purchasing the Russian made S-400 system, Blinken responded: “I think that what Turkey has done as a NATO ally in acquiring the S-400s is unacceptable. The idea that today’s strategic partner of ours would actually be in line with one of our biggest strategic competitors in Russia is not acceptable. I think we need to take a look and see the impact the existing sanctions have had and then determine whether there’s more that needs to be done.” The ANCA continues to call on Members of Congress and the President to use the Global Magnitsky Act to hold Azerbaijani leaders accountable for war crimes, including the launching of cluster bombs against Armenian civilians in the Artsakh Republic.
19 January
A total of 197 historical and cultural monuments, about 800 paintings, graphic works and sculptures of the Museum of Fine Arts in the Artsakh town of Shushi, as well as more than 700 specimens kept at the Shushi Geological Museum came under the control of Azerbaijan after the recent war, MP Anna Kostanyan from the opposition Bright Armenia Party said. In line with panorama.am in a post on Facebook, the lawmaker said she addressed a letter to Russia Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin on November 26, asking him to help the Armenians to evacuate or at least videotape the collection of 4 state and 2 private museums in Shushi upon the mediation of the commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Artsakh, Rustam Muradov. “Notably, during one of his regular discussions Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov highlighted the protection of historical and cultural monuments in the Azerbaijani-held territories of Artsakh and said that he had talked to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, who said a group of specialists would be send to Artsakh to assess on the ground the extent of damage to all historical sites and cultural values, the possibility of their restoration and the issue of their preservation. “Thus, clear statements were made by the Russian official and the UNESCO leadership. What steps are our authorities taking to save the historical and cultural heritage from the criminal intents of the Azerbaijanis?” she wrote.
18 January
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held his annual press conference to sum up the results of his ministry’s work in 2020. CivilNet picked up the pieces related to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Lavrov highlighted that the status of Karabakh was consciously not mentioned in the November 9 statement. “This issue is left to the future. This should be dealt, in particular, by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. They have now resumed their contacts with all parties. They are preparing to visit the region. The issue of the status of Karabakh will be easier to solve if all the assurances from Yerevan and Baku are made on the ground that the main task is to regulate the daily life of all ethnic and religious communities in Karabakh, and it is necessary to restore their peaceful and good-neighborly coexistence,” he said. The issue of prisoners of war was discussed with Russian President and the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. "At the trilateral meeting held in Moscow on January 11, this issue was discussed for quite a long time. Initially, the following task was set in this issue, that the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides would draw up lists of missing persons whom they want to bring out of captivity. The Armenian side submitted these lists ''not all at once and not in full.” "We are already discussing the problem that arose in the Hadrut region in early December, when a large group of Armenian soldiers, which was sent there, was captured. The Azerbaijani side states that these people were sent there after the announcement of the truce, their issue should be considered separately, and not within the framework regulated by the November 9 statement,” The Russian Foreign Minister noted that this issue is still being raised, and it needs to be resolved, guided by the principle of “everyone in exchange for everyone.” “It turned out that their number is more than 62. Now our military is dealing with this issue, cooperating with the military of Armenia and Azerbaijan to clarify the names of the missing persons,” Lavrov said.
17 January
The Human Rights Defenders of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh have published a joint ad hoc public report on Organized Hate Speech and Animosity towards Ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan, reported armradio.am. “President of Azerbaijan and other authorities speak of the entire Armenian people and population of Armenia with open threats of ethnic cleansing and genocide,” Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan says. “They openly insult the dignity of the Armenian people, incite hostility, they do it to humiliate the personal dignity of every Armenian in the world, every person living in Armenia,” the Ombudman says. The monitoring of the staff of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia confirms that this is a policy of deep state hatred and enmity towards Armenians. It is institutional in nature and is based on ethnicity and, in some cases, religious affiliation. The expressions of the President of Azerbaijan and other public figures became slogans inspiring atrocities against Armenians in this war (for example, “Azerbaijani soldiers chase them like dogs”, “Armenia is a worthless country … it is an artificial state created on the ancient lands of Azerbaijan,” “Azerbaijan is coming to end Armenian weddings,” etc.). “In other words, the real causes of these war crimes are obvious. Moreover, the Azerbaijani military are proud of the atrocities, well aware that they will only be encouraged and praised for it in their own country,” Arman Tatoyan says.
16 January
In the opinion of Armenian political scientist Andrias Ghukasyan in the issue of the Karabakh conflict, Russia is guided by its geopolitical interests to the detriment of the national interests of Armenians. As reported by jam-news.net this is primarily due to the national security issues of Russia itself. Armenia for Russia is a country without an alternative, which completely depends on it for its national security. Russia believes that it is possible to present Armenia with a fact so that it recognizes the priority of Russian national interests over its own. Therefore, the most important task for Armenia is to achieve independence from Russia in matters of its national security. Until this task is solved, our foreign policy will be subordinated to the interests of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. Russia’s support to Azerbaijan over the past two decades has played a large role in ensuring that Azerbaijan uses the 1994 ceasefire to accumulate resources and resolve the Karabakh problem by military means. We cannot ignore this fact, and it must have its legal consequences. One of these consequences is the revision of the agreement on the military base, because it did not fulfill its purpose for Armenia. But the withdrawal of Russian troops can only be carried out in parallel with the creation of effective armed forces, the country’s own defense potential.
Sources: northbynorthwestern.com, www.azatutyun.am, www.armenian.usc.edu, www.asbarez.com, www.panorama.am, www.civilnet.am, www.armradio.am, www.jam-news.net