Blog Archives
Karabakh: Azerbaijan says ready for war, Armenia says ready to counterstrike
Over the last week President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan at least three times during interviews and official meetings stated that Azerbaijan is preparing for war, and the Armenian people will mobilize their full potential in the event of resumed hostilities over Karabakh. Some experts link the president’s statement to the coming election campaign. The subject […]
Armenian president says Azerbaijan threatens new war
(Reuters) – Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan accused Azerbaijan on Friday of threatening a new war over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh disputed by the south Caucasus neighbors. Azerbaijan is accumulating a “horrendous quantity” of arms in preparation for a resumption of fighting, Sarksyan, 58, told Reuters in an interview. He said Armenia wanted a negotiated settlement […]
Syrian Conflict Taking Toll on Turkey’s Last Armenian Village
I am in Vakifli village, the last Armenian village in Turkey’s Hatay province, Samandag township, near the Syrian border. Vakifli is on the slopes of the Musa Mountain. Over time this village became a neighborhood of Samandag. We climb up to reach Vakifli village, which is a couple of kilometers away from [Samandag] town center. […]
Armenian soldier killed in Karabakh, Armenia launches investigation of murder on “racial grounds”
An Armenian soldier was shot dead on a frontline position near Karabakh on Tuesday. Military authorities in Yerevan said according to preliminary data the 19-year-old conscript, Vaghinak Baghdasaryan, was killed by Azeri fire. A Defense Ministry statement also said that a criminal case had been instituted on a penal code article dealing with “murders on […]
Azerbaijan warns Armenia’s Sargsyan over visits to “occupied lands”
Baku has issued more warnings to Serzh Sargsyan not to pay visits to the “occupied territories” of Azerbaijan after the Armenian leader attended a school opening ceremony in Shushi in Karabakh last weekend. The statement by Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev comes amid increased tensions in the region that some international experts fear may […]
Achieving peace in Nagorno-Karabakh
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has an enormous impact on both countries economically, socially, as well as on the quality of democracy and the respect for individual and collective freedoms. It is also shocking how little one side knows about the other, and how much of the dispute is based on propaganda-induced prejudices, writes […]
Nalbandian Blames Azerbaijan for Peace Stalemate
YEREVAN—After an announcement by the presidents of the Minsk Group co-chairing countries, Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian reiterated Yerevan’s assertion that Azerbaijan is to blame for the stalemate in the Karabagh peace talks. In a written statement, Nalbandian aligned Yerevan with the presidents of the U.S., France, and Russia who, on the sidelines of the […]
Europe’s risky tolerance of tension in the Caucasus
Military tensions have grown in recent weeks between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Charles Tannock argues that the EU should take steps to diffuse the situation. Charles Tannock is a member of the European Parliament from Britain. “Almost unnoticed beyond the specialist foreign policy community, there have been around a dozen heavy incidents of exchanges of sniper […]
Snail pace Karabakh escalation brings dramatic risks for region and Europe
On 18 June 2012, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs met together with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Paris. European Friends of Armenia (www.EuFoA.org) shares the disappointment and recommendations issued yesterday by the three Co-Chairing Presidents at the G20 summit in Los Cabos (Mexico). In particular we regret that Azerbaijan continues blocking the […]
US, French, Russian Presidents Issue Statement on Karabakh
LOS CABOS, Mexico—Presidents of the OSCE Minks Group Co-Chair countries, Barack Obama (US), Francois Hollande( France) and Vladimir Putin (Russia), issued a joint statement Monday during the G-20 Summit currently under way in the Mexican city. The three presidents urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to fulfill their promise and work toward progress on the Nagrono-Karabakh conflict […]
‘Normal’ shooting resumes in Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
BRUSSELS – The string of recent killings in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is nothing unusual, EU diplomats in the region say. Armenia last week accused Azerbaijan of killing four of its soldiers in cross border raids. Azerbaijan says Armenia killed five of its men in a similar operation. Its media on Monday (11 June) said there […]
Sarkisian Vows ‘Severe Response’ to Azeri Provocations
YEREVAN—President Serge Sarkisian warned Azerbaijan over the continuous “provocations” at the border, saying that they will receive the appropriate response. Meanwhile, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) President Bako Sahakian told Personal Representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office that the recent ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan aimed to destabilize the peace process. “I have said on many occasions that provocations […]
Armenian Border Village Struggles For Normalcy Amid Heavier Fighting
Life in Chinari, a village in northeastern Armenia bordering Azerbaijan, has been far from normal for two decades, and the last few days have made it even more challenging and dangerous for more than 1,000 people living there. The mountainous settlement is located near the scene of a vicious gun battle that left three Armenian […]
Serzh Sargsyan: Actions against RA and Artsakh won’t remain unanswered
“Loss of each Armenian soldier is the loss of our whole nation. We all mourn the death of our soldiers, together with the families of the victims. Regarding the response given to the rival, nothing can console our grief,” President Serzh Sargsyan stated, answering to Panorama.am question about border incidents. “I’ve been always saying that […]
BREAKING NEWS: Azeri Forces Try Infiltrating Artsakh, Armenian Soldier Killed
STEPANAKERT, NKR—An Azeri unit tried infiltrating Artsakh around 4 a.m. this morning from the contact point in Horatiz. The ensuing clashes resulted in the death of one Armenian soldier. Two others were injured. According to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic media services, the Azeri side also suffered losses. This is the fourth attempt in June alone […]
UPDATE 1-Baku accuses Armenia of killing 5 Azeri soldiers
Azerbaijan accused arch rival Armenia on Tuesday of killing five Azeri soldiers near their border in a second day of violence that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned could turn into a broader regional conflict. A day earlier, three Armenian soldiers were killed and several soldiers on both sides wounded in a border skirmish. […]
