By Arayik Oganesyan,

KYIV, BM, ($1=27.00 Ukrainian Hryvnia) – The U.S. President Joe Biden prolonged the moratorium on prohibition of deliveries to Azerbaijan of the military equipment and the weapon at the end of April. Previously Baku could not benefit from the opportunity of purchasing of armament from Washington according to the Section 907 amendment of the Freedom Support Act of the U.S. Congress, which was accepted in 1992 and completely banned any kind of direct United States aid with arms supplies to Azerbaijan.

However introduction of the moratorium on prohibition of deliveries of armament to Azerbaijan in 2002 allowed the American corporations to sell the weapon directly to Baku. Only the decision of the US Secretary of State, based on incontestable proofs of use of the American weapon by Azerbaijan for the purpose of development of the conflictogenic situation in the region or initiation of aggression against Armenia, can freeze cooperation of Baku and Washington in the military sphere. Referring to the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s words, exports of arms to Baku are also necessary for support of efforts of Washington to counter the international terrorism.

Meanwhile a number of eminent experts and politicians are skeptical about the appropriateness of the step of the White House, indicating the need for establishing legislative measures setting severe restrictions on armament supplies to Azerbaijan, and not only for the USA, but also for other NATO allies. In particular, Congressman Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, criticized the decision of the United States Presidential Administration to prolong the moratorium. In his view, receiving regular military aid from the USA or the countries of the European Union, the Azerbaijani authorities not only conceal that it will be sent to war with Armenia for Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), but also deliberately omit the fact that the part of armament is subsequently sold to the third countries, terrorists or on the black market.

This is certainly not an unreasonable approach. Much evidence incriminating Azerbaijan in illicit trafficking in weapons in the black market were already made public. For example, Baku as a part of regular military exercises in 2017 showed the Czech MLRS RM-70, – multiple launch rocket systems which Azerbaijan could not simply have under the laws in force in the Czech Republic confirmed with statements of Czech officials. At that time Armenia was already blaring about the appearing of these military assets in Nagorno-Karabakh, and nevertheless the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic officially declared an impossibility of such transaction. As a result, the point of view about its smuggling origin began to prevail among military experts.

Besides, many analysts reasonably suspect Baku of resupplying of arms and ammunition of ISIL militants in Syria and other hot zones. For example, the investigation by the Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhiyeva was published in the Bulgarian newspaper «Trud». With the reference to the confidential data obtained by group of the hackers acting under the name of «Anonymous Bulgaria» the facts of participation of the Azerbaijani state-owned airline «Silk Way Airlines» in deliveries of armament to Saudi Arabia, and from there to the pro-Saudi forces in Yemen, to jihadists in Syria, and also to Mali, Burkina Faso and Afghanistan, were made public. At the same time it turned out that suppliers and arms manufacturers were the «VMZ» and «Transmobile» companies from Bulgaria, «Yugoimport» from Serbia and «CIHAZ» from Azerbaijan.

It is noteworthy that even the independent Azerbaijani analysts resisting to authoritarian regime of the president Ilham Aliyev adhere to the similar point of view. So, according to the messages of «Timeturk» news agency, Azerbaijanis form the isolated part of the militarized «Makhmut» group which participates in military operations against troops of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Experts noted that most of the weapons fall straight into hands of fighters of ISIL through formations of this sort, and also not without the help of the Turkish financial institutions, and afterwards emerge worldwide.

Consequently, there is the reasonable question whether the USA need such laws which legalize supplies of armament to authoritarian regimes. Daniel Larison, the American historian, and also the editor and the weekly observer of the analytical «Antiwar» website is convinced that the US do not need it. He called upon Washington to start elaborating the legal mechanism which will allow to ban deliveries of arms of NATO to Azerbaijan. According to Larison, military support to Baku from the White House posed a real threat of jeopardizing the stability in the Caucasus, and stopping to promote development of scales of this threat is the least that the USA can do.

So, if the USA and the European countries really want to justify the commitment to protection of human rights in foreign policy and counter the international terrorism, they should begin with reforming of the legislation system, and in particular, with the termination of any military aid to Azerbaijan. At the same time the preconditions for reconceptualizing this postulate were already formed among the experts and political communities of the USA and Europe.

The Karabakh transit or how weapons falls into hands of Islamists

At the end of June independent journalists of information portal «Arms Watch» have published video shot in the Syrian province of Idlib, where terrorists from «Tahrir al-Sham» group fired at positions of government troops of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. This video frame could get lost easily among tens of other video records coming from the warring country, but there is one circumstance. It is visible that fighters use modern arms, including the American and Turkish antitank missile weapons and small arms on a propaganda video clip.

This circumstance has caused rough reaction of military experts who have been surprised with availability at Islamists of impressive volumes of expensive arms of the western production. At the same time the Syrian military have published several photos of similar types of the ammunition withdrawn from extremists for the last several months in Idlib. Moreover analysts have noted that antitank missiles are quite difficult in use and demand special certification that, in turn, indicates participation of foreign patrons of the Syrian jihadists group in direct deliveries of sensitive types of weapon to a zone of conflict. But only uncontrollable to Bashar al-Assad’s troops the route in Idlib passes through border of the northern neighbor – Turkey.

Ankara was included in reports of monitoring missions more than once as the side directly supporting fighters «Tahrir al-Sham». However until recently Turkish patrons nevertheless did not risk to use during military operations against government troops the latest NATO «military toys». Really the odious Turkish leader Recep Erdogan has individually decided to raise rates in the Syrian game or others are involved in a regional situation, and what about Karabakh?

The same fighting groups from «Tahrir al-Sham» took part in the 44-day military conflict between the Armenian military formations in the territory of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the Azerbaijani armed forces supported by Turkey. Recruited by the Turkish emissaries in Idlibe, they for a «modest» payment in $2000 have gone to Karabakh to help Azerbaijan with fight against «gentiles». According to the oppositional organization «The Syrian Observatory on Human Rights» located in London, among the Syrian mercenaries enlisted by Turkey there were also fighters who battled for «The Islamic state» and the jihadist groups connected with «Al-Qaeda».

The military analyst Michael Coffman, the head of the Russian programs of the non-governmental research center CNA in Washington, believes that Azerbaijan aimed to minimize own losses. Elisabeth Tsurkov from the Center of global policy in Washington, having interrogated several tens Syrians participating in the conflict, she agrees that those were used as «gun meat», especially in the south of military operations.

However most of ordinary mercenaries have not received the promised money, but terrorists nevertheless were not left without a peculiar gesture of a gratitude from the employers. Following a saying «give a man fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for life», to fighters not only have allowed to return freely to Syria through the territory of Turkey, but also have allowed to take away with themselves the weapon given for war with Armenians among which several antitank missile weapons for certain could «worm way». And on an accidental combination of circumstances, victorious completion of the Karabakh conflict has matched growth of a quantity of the recorded facts of hit of the latest samples of arms in Idlib.

There are no doubts that the Turkish authorities together with Azerbaijan throw down thus a challenge to all world community, openly exploiting jihadists. Baku will hardly manage to be washed from the shadow cast on its reputation from cooperation with terrorists for the sake of achievement of the goal of a conquest of Nagorno-Karabakh. And partners of Turkey in North Atlantic alliance in turn should think of expediency of further military and technical cooperation with Ankara, especially against signing in the middle of June of the Azerbaijani-Turkish agreement on military cooperation expanding access of Baku to modern arms of NATO. Who knows against whom it can be used already tomorrow.

Source: https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2021/07/26/azerbaijani-black-market-where-does-the-western-weapon-go/

GYUMRI, OCTOBER 18, ARMENPRESS. Two newborn baby boys have been found alive in a plastic bag outside a children’s care facility in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city. The infants were found by the facility’s security guard in the evening of October 17.

The guard contacted police immediately.

First responders arrived shortly and attended the infants. Doctors said the boys are 2-10 days old. Officials from the Shirak Governor’s Office also arrived at the scene. The children were given food and were placed under supervision.

“They are male baby boys aged from two to ten days old, we can’t say for sure at this moment if they are siblings or not. They are in normal condition, there are no traces of violence,” Lilit Grigoryan from the Shirak Governor’s Office said.

Other details weren’t immediately clear. 

Representatives David Cicilline (D-RI) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) are leading a bi-partisan call on the State Department to suspend export licenses for U.S. drone technology to Turkey, pending an official investigation into the destabilizing role of Turkey’s drone programs in the Caucasus, South Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and around the globe.

On Friday, Representatives Cicilline and Bilirakis urged U.S. House members to join them in cosigning a letter calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to issue a report on the broader ramifications of Turkey’s drone industry; whether they include U.S. technologies that violate currently imposed sanctions; and whether Turkey’s actions constitute yet another violation of NATO rules and bylaws.  

“Over the last year, Turkish drones have been deployed by Azerbaijan against Armenian civilians in Artsakh, Syria; against Kurdish forces that have partnered with the U.S. in the war against ISIS; and in Libya’s civil war,” states the letter which cites battlefield evidence from Artsakh confirming the use of U.S. technology in Turkey’s Bayrakdar drones deployed by Azerbaijan against Armenians.

The full text of the Congressional Letter is provided below:

The Hellenic American Leadership Association (HALC), American Friends of Kurdistan, Hindu American Foundation, In Defense of Christians, Middle East Forum, and Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) are leading a growing coalition of U.S. groups supporting the effort.

Hellenic American Leadership Council Executive Director Endy Zemenides noted, “Turkey drone program has undermined America’s interests, values and strategic partners. Now we have indications that it also violates American law. We join Representatives Cicilline and Bilirakis in asking Secretary Blinken to investigate this matter.”
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian noted, “U.S.-sourced drone parts – like those discovered in Turkish UAVs deployed by Azerbaijan last year to kill Armenians in Artsakh – must never be turned against America’s allies or innocent civilians. We join with Reps. Cicilline and Bilirakis in urgently demanding a comprehensive State Department investigation into whether the transfer of these American components represents violations of U.S. laws or sanctions.”

American Friends of Kurdistan’s Co-Founder Diliman Abdulkader explained, “American Friends of Kurdistan calls on the Biden administration to hold Turkey accountable for its usage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The Turkish government under the Erdogan regime has indiscriminately used drones beyond its sovereign territory, threatening our most important allies and partners in the region.  Just last month, Turkey killed three Kurdish civilians in Makhmur refugee camp in the Kurdistan Region. The Turkish regime has yet to be held accountable. Turkey can no longer get away with human rights violations simply because it is a NATO ally.  American Friends of Kurdistan applauds the members of Congress who are not only paying close attention to this critical matter but calling for action.”

American Hindu Foundation Director of Public Policy Taniel Koushakjian noted, “Turkey’s increasingly destabilizing role, from North Africa, to the Middle East, to the South Caucasus, and to South Asia, poses a clear and direct threat to the U.S., our interests, and to our allies and strategic partners like India, the largest democracy in the world. Turkish-Pakistani-Russian joint production of combat UAVs should alarm democracies around the world, and with the recent drone strikes in Kashmir the last two weeks, the addition of Turkish combat UAVs combined with Pakistan’s existing jihadi ground forces poses a real threat and would be a toxic mix for America’s ally India.”

In Defense of Christians (IDC) Executive Director, Richard Ghazal commented, “Ankara continues to abuse its status as a NATO ally, causing global destabilization, through its undeterred procurement of the Russian S-400 weapon system, and its development, deployment, and proliferation of offensive drone systems—all in the face of US-imposed CAATSA sanctions. We join Representatives Cicilline and Bilirakis in requesting an immediate State Department inquiry into Turkey’s increasingly brazen actions which threaten US interests and international security.”

Middle East Forum Washington Project Director Cliff Smith stated, “Under President Erdogan, Turkey has increasingly become an ally-in-name-only, using their NATO membership as a shield to blunt criticism, more than acting like a true ally. While the bill of indictment against Turkey is long, this is a good step at demonstrating their bad behavior will not go unnoticed, and is not cost free.”

Grisha Balasanyan

It took the Armenian Ministry of Defense 47 days to reject a Hetq request to provide information on the people killed and gone missing during last year’s Karabakh war.

Hetq sent the ministry a written request on June 7, requesting data on who, according to official Armenian sources, had been killed, buried, their nationality, their army rank, etc.

The ministry, in a July 22 letter, argued that such information contains state secrets and is covered by Armenia’s Freedom of Information Law and the Law on Personal Data Protection.

The ministry, upon receipt of Hetq’s request, initially replied that “there is a need for additional research to provide the information mentioned in the request. Accordingly. the answer to the inquiry will be provided in the terms defined by RA legislation.”

Then, a ministry staffer telephoned this journalist and asked a few questions about the request, promising to provide the information within a day or two.

The Ministry of Defense and other agencies have adopted a new strategy of “neutralizing” media inquiries. They request a 30-day response grace period, believing that the delay will push the matter to back burner, and then refuse to provide the information.

Here, we must note that we did not ask the Ministry of Defense for any personal information (names, date of birth, etc.).

It is therefore strange that digital data is considered personal data without specifying what the personal data is.

In addition, even if any of the data in the survey were considered personal, the ministry is required to provide the remaining information; that which is not considered “secret”.

This was the approach taken by the Armavir Provincial Government, which has provided information on casualties in the region according to communities.

The Ministry of Defense, in its press releases, and National Assembly MPs regularly circulate information on killed servicemen and the missing.

Given the ministry’s argument in its July 22 rejection, are we to assume that they are disclosing state secrets or providing distorted, inaccurate data?

Uyghur, Turkmen and central Asian migrants living in Turkey serve as a significant pool for radical membership in radical Islamist terrorist organisations, according to the latest report presented to the United Nations Security Council, Voice of America Turkish reported on Saturday.

Members of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria’s northern Idlib province see Turkey as an important gateway, according to the 22-page U.N. report detailing global terror activities in the first six-months of 2021.

Terrorist organisations such as ISIS and Al Qaeda are exerting efforts to include in their group people with Turkic nationalities living in Turkey, the report said, while pointing out that a number of ISIS militants have been arrested attempting to enter Turkey from its southern Hatay province gate.

Tukrey has long held a reputation as a route for foreign ISIS fighters travelling to Syria and Iraq and has been accused of failing to prioritise threat posed by the jihadist organisation, which is believed to have carried out 300 deaths in attacks in the country between 2014 and 2017.

The militants for years took advantage of Turkey’s porous southern border.

ISIS continues to rely on “logistical hubs” inside Turkey for its finances, the U.S. Treasury saidin a report in January. In April, Turkey granted citizenship to eight members of ISIS, whose assets have been seized over terror links, according to Ankara Gazetecisi news website.

There are at least 10,000 radical Islamists in Idlib, according to the report, and ISIS is resorting to guerrilla warfare tactics in some regions of Syria.

The Guardian: Greek capital is first in Europe to create role, which will involve finding new ways to cool the city

Athens has appointed a chief heat officer to protect people from soaring temperatures and try to find ways to adapt the city to the heatwaves and extreme weather that are striking the capital more frequently as the result of the climate emergency.

The appointment, made on Friday by the mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, is the first in Europe and believed to be only the second in the world, after Miami-Dade county in Florida appointed a chief heat officer earlier this year.

Bakoyannis said: “Climate change for our city means more frequent and dangerous extreme high temperatures for residents and for tourists who are critical for our economy. Unfortunately, Athens is not unique – heat is an emergency for cities across Europe and the world.”

Eleni Myrivili, Athens’ new chief heat officer, added: “We’ve been talking about global warming for decades, but we haven’t talked much about heat.”

Myrivili’s task will be to find ways to cool the city, beyond the obvious air conditioning in buildings, which only adds to the climate crisis by its massive use of energy around the world. Planting trees and plants and cultivating green spaces for shade and their cooling properties will be vital, as will redesigning roads and buildings, and examining the materials used for building.

Athens has announced a programme to increase the amount of green space and shade across the city. Providing “cool routes” through areas where the density of buildings poses a particular problem will also be a priority. The city already uses a smartphone app to warn residents and tourists about the weather and provide heat-beating tips.

This summer has been one of the hottest on record across much of Europe, with heat records tumbling in many areas, at the same time as floods have swept through Germany and Belgium. Across the world, China has experienced devastating flooding, while heatwaves have struck northern latitudes in Canada, and wildfires raged in the US.

Heat is a particular problem for people in cities because built-up areas and concrete store heat from the sun, while energy use and transport creates its own excess heat that adds to the natural warming effect, and there is less of the natural cooling effect of trees, vegetation and water.

The very young and elderly people are most at risk from overheating, though temperatures in some places are now so extreme that even healthy young people are increasingly at risk. At least 104,000 deaths among Europe’s elderly population were caused by excessive heat in 2018.

Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, warned that cities everywhere must take note. “Extreme heat is becoming the new normal in urban environments and occurs with a dramatic frequency. Devastating heatwaves remove any doubt that climate change affects all our lives. There is an urgent need to strengthen the actions taken in cities to address extreme heat and prevent the silent killer from causing more deaths.”

Athens’ actions have been supported by the City Champions for Heat Action initiative, a programme launched by the Resilience Centre of the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously insisted on Friday that Turkey not go ahead with implementing its plans to reopen the coastal suburb of Varosha in Northern Cyprus. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry promptly shot back by insisting that the Council’s statement was “based on Greek-Greek Cypriot black propaganda and groundless claims”. 

Friday’s presidential statement by the Security Council, which all 15 members approved, insisted that “no actions should be carried out in relation to Varosha, that are not in accordance with its resolutions.” 

“The Security Council condemns the announcement in Cyprus by Turkish and Turkish Cypriot leaders on July 20, 2021, on the further reopening of part of the fenced-off area of Varosha,” the statement said. 

The Security Council also expressed “its deep regret regarding those unilateral actions that run contrary to its previous resolutions and statement” and went on to call “for the immediate reversal of this course of action and the reversal of all steps taken on Varosha since October 2020.”

Varosha, known as Maraş in Turkish, has been uninhabited since Turkey invaded the northern third of Cyprus in 1974 and established the internationally unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). 

The Security Council worries that by repopulating Varosha 47 years later, Turkey and the TRNC could raise tensions on the divided island. The statement insists that any resettlement of 

Varosha “by people other than its inhabitants is inadmissible”. 

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry responded with a statement that dismissed the Security Council.

“We reject the Presidential Statement made by the U.N. Security Council on the second phase of the Maraş initiative, announced by the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), H.E. Mr. Ersin Tatar, on July 20 2021, as well as the statements from various countries which are based on unfounded claims and inconsistent with the realities on the Island,” read the statement, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. 

“These statements are based on Greek-Greek Cypriot black propaganda and groundless claims, such as that Maraş is not TRNC territory, that the TRNC will confiscate the properties in Maraş and bring settlers there against the property rights,” the statement continued. 

The statement also contended that the area “has not been opened to settlement and was declared as a military zone as a good will gesture by the TRNC authorities” and that Turkish Cypriot authorities “respect the property rights and are in full compliance with international law.” 

The TRNC also released a statement in which it claimed that the “wording of the statement of the UNSC Presidency on the ‘reopening of the part of the fenced-off area of Varosha’ is misleading.” 

“The TRNC Council of Ministers has not made a decision for the reopening of the said area removed from military status,” it added. 

Ersin Tatar, the leader of the TRNC, announced on July 20 that a 3.5 square-kilometre part of Varosha would return to civilian control. His comments coincided with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to mark the 47th anniversary of the Turkish invasion with a military parade. 

Varosha is a suburb of the city of Famagusta. In 1974, about 15,000 Greek Cypriots fled the area as a result of the Turkish invasion. It remained completely fenced-off from 1974 until October 2020 when Turkey and the TRNC announced it was “re-opening”, the Associated Press reported. 

Varosha’s former Greek Cypriot population fear that this move could pressure them into selling their properties. Turkish Cypriots also worry that the move could undermine attempts to reconcile the divided island’s two communities, AP said. 

Armenians were the first whose nation embraced Christianity as the state religion in the year A.D. 301. Islamic invasions have reduced Armenia to a fraction of its original size. Church Militant’s Trey Blanton spoke with families who lost their sons to the ongoing Turkish onslaught.

Armenians of the independent — but unrecognized — Republic of Artsakh are attempting to resume their lives after surviving last year’s invasion by Muslim-majority Azerbaijan.

The graves of over 5,000 Christian lives lost are overshadowed by the occupation of the Turks a mere five miles away on the high ground of Shushi, the cultural capital of Artsakh.

One family, forced from their home in the town of Hadrut, still mourns the loss of their son.

Fallen soldier’s mother: “He was 19 years old. He was sent as reinforcements to another town. He was with four friends in a trench. A shot was fired from the Azeri side. His friends saw him lying on the ground … and saw that he was dead.”

Armen Asryan also lost his 20-year-old son and is working to catalog the missing and dead. Asryan misses his son and prays the world will wake up to Islamic-Turkish aggression.

Asryan: “The world was, in a way, assisting Turkey and Azerbaijan through indifference and, essentially, blindness.”

Over a hundred Armenian soldiers are still being held as prisoners of war by Azerbaijan, in violation of international law. The Muslim forces also continue to harass both Artsakh and Armenia with gunfire and artillery shelling.

Artsakh is our generation’s Vienna. The Armenians are holding the line against the Turks but, so far, Christian reinforcements are nowhere in sight. 

The total number of lives lost or illegally detained is unknown because Azerbaijan is denying Armenian and international organizations access to bodies of the dead in captured territory.

watch the video here: https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/armenians-under-siege

A Taliban spokesperson said the group remains opposed to any Turkish military presence in Afghanistan, Sputnik Türkiye reported on Thursday. 

Turkey has offered to maintain its security deployment at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport after other NATO forces complete their withdrawal ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s commitment to leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11.

However, the proposal has been repeatedly opposed by a resurgent Taliban, which now claims authority in 85 percent of Afghan territory after making a series of rapid gains, according to Reuters.

Speaking to Russian state media, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid again rejected the Turkish proposal. 

“We have already objected to Turkey’s stance,” he said. “We will not allow other foreign powers to stay in this country for any reason after the U.S. withdraws.”  

Guaranteeing security at the Kabul airport is seen as crucial to allowing international embassies and aid organisations to access the country after international troops depart.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said his government had “no issues” with the Taliban’s conservative Islamic beliefs, making negotiations easier compared to other NATO powers.

Taliban spokesperson Mujahid welcomed a Turkish role in Afghanistan, but only in a diplomatic capacity.

“If Ankara contributes to progress in the negotiations and can improve the situation in Afghanistan, we will be happy about it,” Sputnik Türkiye cited him as saying. “But we will not let Turkey stay in Afghanistan.”

There are currently around 500 Turkish troops deployed to Afghanistan under a NATO mission to protect Hamid Karzai International Airport and train Afghan security forces.

Sevinc Vaqifqizi, an Azerbaijani journalist working for Meydan TV, an independent news organization based in Berlin, was one of those whose phone number was found to have been infected with the Pegasus spyware from the Israel-based NSO Group. She told RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service via Skype that a forensic analysis of her phone showed it had been tapped since 2019.