Baroness Cox has supported the Armenian people since the early 1990s and bases her extensive first-hand knowledge on having visited Armenia over 85 times to my knowledge.

Below is the latest cross-party bicameral letter to the Foreign Secretary about the deteriorating security situation in Nagorno Karabakh which has become critical. The letter sets out six urgent concerns, all of which should be urgently addressed.
The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

5 August 2022

Dear Foreign Secretary,

The security situation in Nagorno Karabakh is now critical. We have six urgent concerns, all of which require an immediate and meaningful response.

1) Azerbaijani military offensives
Escalating numbers of Armenian villagers are threatened and ordered to leave their homes. As recently as 3 August, Azerbaijani Armed Forces reportedly used drones, grenade launchers and anti-aircraft weapons along the north-western border of the Line of Contact. Two Armenian soldiers were killed and 19 others injured. The attack follows similar Azerbaijani military offensives in the direction of Parukh, Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd villages. These are blatant and recurring breaches of the 2020 ceasefire agreement, which commits each party to “stop at their current positions.”
2) Dangerous rhetoric
Recent military offensives by Azerbaijan are a practical outworking of President Aliyev’s avowed commitment to take “timely steps”, “liberate lands” and “crush the enemy’s head”. During his victory speech after the 44-Day War in 2020, he claimed that territories beyond Nagorno Karabakh – including Armenia’s capital Yerevan – “are our historical lands” and belong to Azerbaijan. He made similar claims in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018, promising the return of these territories to Azerbaijan. The UK Government has made no attempt to condemn such provocative rhetoric, nor have OSCE Minsk Group initiatives resulted in a cessation of hostilities.

3) Maltreatment of detainees
Armenia has returned all Azerbaijani prisoners captured during the 44-Day War. Yet many Armenians remain in Azerbaijani custody, a significant proportion of whom are undergoing speedy criminal trials. Some have been filmed or photographed in captivity but with no indication as to their current whereabouts. Tens of others remain vulnerable to killings, torture, indefinite imprisonment or enslavement, with widespread evidence of humiliating treatment and desecration of corpses by Azerbaijani soldiers – a war crime and a further breach of the ceasefire agreement, which commits each party to “the exchange of prisoners of war and other detainees.”
4) No accountability
During the 44-Day War, civilians in Nagorno Karabakh endured almost-daily military offensives by tanks, helicopters, cluster munitions and Smerch multiple rocket launchers – weapons incapable of precision targeting – in breach of international humanitarian law and Geneva conventions. Civilians also suffered widespread destruction of non-military objects, including medical emergency service centres and ambulances, schools and pre-schools, religious sites, food stocks, crops, livestock, electricity and gas plants, and drinking-water installations and supplies. These are war crimes, horribly reminiscent of what is happening in Ukraine.

5) Lachin humanitarian corridor
We continue to receive reports that Azerbaijan prohibits free passage of the Lachin humanitarian corridor (currently the only road linking Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh), all the while seeking to force Armenia into more concessions and further capitulation agreements. Any plans by Azerbaijan to construct a new route along the Lachin corridor must be approved by Armenia, as per the ceasefire agreement.
6) Destruction of Armenian heritage
Serious concerns remain over the fate of hundreds of Armenian Christian monuments and ancient cultural heritage sites, which are now under Azerbaijan’s control – some of which were shelled or erased during the 44-Day War. The sites include 161 churches, the ancient city of Tigranakert, Azokh Paleolithic Cave and the Nor Karmiravan tombs. UNESCO is denied access to the sites by Azerbaijan.

There is an urgent need to end the impunity with which Azerbaijan has carried out such systematic violations of the 2020 ceasefire agreement and international law. Perpetrators of atrocities must be held to account. We must no longer turn a deaf ear to the suffering of the people of Nagorno Karabakh.
Yours sincerely,
Baroness Cox (Crossbench)
Tim Loughton MP (Conservative)
Tim Farron MP (Liberal Democrat)
Lord Boateng (Labour)
Christopher Cocksworth, Lord Bishop of Coventry. Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench)
Marie Rimmer MP (Labour)
Lord Singh of Wimbledon (Crossbench)
Derek Thomas MP (Conservative)
Lord Loomba (Crossbench)
Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat)
Lord Curry of Kirkharle (Crossbench)
Letter copy kindly provided by Lord Alton

Picture credits with kind support from The Armenian National Committee of the United Kingdom (ANC-UK) is the most influential British-Armenian grassroots organization.
Post provided by Andrew Haigh.

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The situation in front of the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia remains tense.

A group of parents of the servicemen who died in the 44-day Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war in the fall of 2020 have entered the MOD reception and demanded a meeting with the commander of the 4th Battalion of the 5th Defense District of Martakert, Pavlik Kyaramyan, whom they blame for the deaths of their soldier sons.

“We give five minutes. If they don’t come, they’ll see,” said the father of a fallen soldier.

To note, the sons of these parents protesting in front of the MOD building were from the 4th Battalion of the 5th Defense District of Martakert. These parents demand to meet with the commander of this battalion, Pavlik Kyaramyan, whom they blame for the deaths of their sons.

These parents demand a meeting also with either defense minister Suren Papikyan or deputy defense minister Arman Sargsyan.

For a long time, these parents are trying to find out under what circumstances their soldier sons had died during the aforementioned war.

The families of these fallen servicemen are upset by the fact that Pavlik Kyaramyan was awarded the Order of the Combat Cross medal of the first class despite not participating in the combat operations during the aforementioned war.

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KAREN HARUTYUNYAN,

Let’s summarize what happened last week and why.

On August 1, Azerbaijan breached the line of contact in the northwestern part of the Martakert region and in the south, in the direction of the Lachin Corridor. After three days of clashes, the Armenian side had at least two dead and about two dozen wounded.

On August 2, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan announced that Azerbaijan has made a demand to organize traffic through the Lachin Corridor using a new road. Earlier, on June 30, Harutyunyan said “we have to leave Berdzor (Lachin), and we will continue negotiations and the struggle to keep Aghavno.”

According to the November 9, 2020 statement between the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, “to ensure the connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, a plan for the construction of a new route along the Lachin Corridor will be approved in the next three years, after which Russian peacekeeping troops will be redeployed to protect this route.” In other words, it was not about building a new road within a three-year period, but just deciding on a new route.

At a cabinet meeting on August 4, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan criticized the Russian peacekeeping troops in Karabakh, stating that “cases of physically and psychologically intimidating the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in the presence of peacekeepers are simply unacceptable.” He also said that, currently, there is no trilateral plan for the construction of a road by Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, despite the fact that Armenia has proposed it several times and continues to do so. Pashinyan noted that the Armenian side has not agreed to any plan for the new road, but has already started rebuilding the road that lies within Armenia and runs from the village of Tegh to the village of Kornidzor and onto the border, which, he says, will connect to the new route.

Questions 

I already asked the Armenian government a number of questions in a previous column (Was there an agreement to hand over Berdzor early? Questions to the Armenian government). Let me repeat some of those questions.

• If there was no agreement to hand over the city of Lachin earlier than the three-year period stipulated in the November 9 statement, why did Azerbaijan build a 30-kilometer bypass road on its territory that should be handed over to Armenians?
• Why and based on what agreement did Azerbaijan build the road not only in territories under its control, but also in the Armenian-controlled territory, near the villages of Hin Shen and Mets Shen?
• Why did Azerbaijan demand Lachin immediately after the completion of the road, and why did the Armenian side immediately agree to Azerbaijan’s demand to hand over the city of Lachin and the villages of Aghavno and Nerkin Sus, all located along the existing corridor, by August 25?
• If there was no agreement on handing over the city of Lachin early (read: in July 2022), why does the Armenian government cave in to Azerbaijan’s demand and announce that it will build an 8-kilometer road in the Kornidzor section by the spring of 2023?
• Is it true that, before the construction of the Tegh-Kornidzor section, Armenia will also build a 3-kilometer road that will connect the beginning of the existing Lachin corridor to the 30 km road built by Azerbaijan, but that also bypasses the city of Lachin? Is it possible that this road, too, will be handed over to Azerbaijan in the future?

The statements of the Armenian government contradict the logic of its actions and the situation. It can be firmly stated that Pashinyan’s government had given a certain agreement to hand over the city of Lachin to Azerbaijan, or at least to agree to the new route connecting Artsakh and Armenia before the three-year stipulation.

CivilNet columnist Benyamin Poghosyan considers it controversial that the Armenian authorities are trying to blame their new concessions to Azerbaijan on the Russians.

Conclusions

By analyzing last week’she events, we can make the following conclusions:

• The Armenian authorities were unable to stay within the framework of the November 9 statement, caved into Azerbaijan’s demands in the negotiations, and agreed to both the new route bypassing Lachin and to hand over the city of Lachin and the villages of Aghavno and Nerkin Sus after the route is build. Here, it is especially important to note that Pashinyan’s government was not able to get the road connecting Armenia and Artsakh built in parallel with the rebuilding of the infrastructure passing through it: electric power lines, a gas pipeline and Internet cable. Now road traffic will be organized via a new route, while the infrastructure will remain under the control of Azerbaijan.
• Having agreed to the route of the new road, as well as to hand over Lachin, Aghavno, and Nerkin Sus after its construction, Armenia has not done anything in the meantime to build its own section of the road, which would connect to the road already built by Azerbaijan. Now the Armenian government is taking hasty and random actions, which deepen the uncertainty for the people living in Artsakh.
• Most importantly, Pashinyan’s government, by not taking practical steps to fulfill its infamous pledge (regardless of if it was verbal or written), has sparked a new border escalation, which resulted in at least two casualties and about two dozen injured on the Armenian side.

One can endlessly blame Azerbaijan, whose international importance, by the way, for both the Russians and the West has significantly increased after the Ukrainian war. One can blame Russia, which, according to Armenia’s claims, does not properly fulfill its duties to protect the security of the Armenians of Artsakh.

The fact, however, is that the Armenian government has failed to make a sober assessment of the situation, and that has led to the current deadlock and loss of human life.

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Artsakh Information Staff photographer David Kahramanian published a photo from the village of Aghavno with a note attached.

“Aghavno village.

08.06.2022 – Hello children. What is the occasion for which you have gathered?

Yesterday we found out that we have to go to live somewhere else in a few days. We gathered with the children of the village to say goodbye to each other.”

The Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of Artsakh Hayk Khanumyan informed the residents of Aghavno and Berdzor that they have to leave their houses till 25 August.

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Dear Armenians, as you can see, under our indifferent gaze, the Turk takes everything from us.

They took Hadrut, they took Shushi, they are taking Berdzor and Aghavno, they are going to take 6 villages near Tavush, then they will consider what they can take from Vardenis, Vaik, Lori is a good place, from Lori, they are not against taking Gyumri, Yerevan is theirs and theirs. So how will it be? Give, give, give… There is no peace. You give, they don’t shoot that day, two days later they shoot again so we give again. Do you know any other country like us that gives something every day?
Germany also capitulated. But the German didn’t behave like us. The capitulated government of Germany voluntarily went to the writer’s lap, other people came, put the state in order, and in the end, after demolishing a wall, they took over the rest of the country. And what did we do? We kept the capitulated and morally destroyed government on our heads, so that suddenly other people don’t come and try to stop the destruction of the country.

Meanwhile, they told us every day: drive this government, this is a government of defeat, every day they stay will be a new capitulation. We said no, it’s good like this… We said peace is better than war and chose Nikol, a symbol of shameful defeat. Would a capitulated German choose Hitler? If the Germans were a little more Armenian, Hitler would not have committed suicide. Hitler knew the Armenians well, the Armenians would have forgiven a scoundrel like him. And the Germans – no. And the Germans today have the most powerful state in Europe, and the Armenians have something you don’t know, from which they tear something every day.

Should we try to conduct a poll in Yerevan, who would you vote for if there were elections next Sunday? No… Why, are you afraid? It is already good that we are afraid. It means that we have begun to know ourselves. By the way, according to tradition, Socrates was impressed at a young age by the saying “Know thyself” (“Know thyself”) attributed to the Greek sage Cylon engraved in the Delphian temple, he accepted it as a call to recognize the essence of man, his nature, the meaning and purpose of his life, as a philosophical appeal. a starting point for meditation. Yes, a starting point, that is, a beginning, starting from which you will eventually understand your value.

As of now, we are not providing any value from ourselves. When they give you money and take you out of the house, what value are you talking about? When your blood relative is kicked out of the house, and you look at that scene with the eyes of a cow, what value is it about? And in moments like these, you slowly start to know yourself. There is no need to be offended, to remember the glorious past – that we liberated Artsakh… It is a lie, there is no such thing. Artsakh was liberated by our minority liberating Artsakh.

Let me make another suggestion. Let’s not be afraid and do something so that Berdzor and Aghavno are not emptied. Yes, let’s do something and not watch with a cow’s eye how an outcast gives Armenians time to leave their native homes. Let’s go to military commissariats, enlist, demand weapons, go to Berdzor, Aghavno, stand by our compatriots. Won’t they leave? Who, Nicole? Will he not leave her? Who is asking him? We will drive. Are you saying we can’t? We are few? Well, we are few, and we can’t drive a single capitulant Nikol to keep the homeland, why do we have such a high opinion of ourselves?

Dear Armenians, today we are the ones mixing water with the blood of our 5 thousand lion boys, that’s who we are.

Edik Andreasyan

Ամբողջական հոդվածը կարող եք կարդալ այս հասցեով՝ : https://hraparak-am.translate.goog/post/0e166ee0e683a31e240fecb8e964c2a2?_x_tr_sl=hy&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=nui,sc

© 2008 – 2021 «Հրապարակ օրաթերթ»

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Today, when Armenia, Artsakh, and the Diaspora are facing the challenge of coming together more than ever and preventing the dire, security and existential threats to our statehood and Motherland with pan-Armenian potential, the anti-national authorities continue the disastrous policy of deepening the internal division and deliberately and planned to weaken the national resistance.

The target is the national structure of Dashnaktsutyun, the founding political force of Armenian statehood, every page of whose history is a history of service and dedication to the Armenian people and our national ideals.

The authorities, guided by anti-national and foreign agendas, questioning our collective interests and the future of Armenian statehood, do not stop even in the face of politically short-sighted and illegal actions.

The regime’s struggle against political oppression, national ideology, national values ​​and institutions, and moral codes have long crossed all red lines.

During the last few days, three ARF representatives were deprived of the right to enter Armenia and were declared undesirable persons: a member of the ARF Bureau, Murad Papazyan, coordinator of Armenian organizations in France, Masis Abrahamyan, chairman of the Armenian Department of the ARF Netherlands, and Syune Abrahamyan, a member of the “Garegin Nzhdeh” youth union.

The Supreme Body of the ARF of Armenia condemns the policy of political reprisal, national division and expatriation adopted by the RA authorities. At the same time, we declare with all confidence that such agitations are doomed to failure, and the ARF will not waver from its principles and political beliefs, we will do our best to establish a government that serves Armenian statehood and national interests.

The supreme body of ARF Armenia

Ամբողջական հոդվածը կարող եք կարդալ այս հասցեով՝ : https://hraparak-am.translate.goog/post/f2fe7d7e7b48d9506f7ab29024c12a3c?_x_tr_sl=hy&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=nui,sc

© 2008 – 2021 «Հրապարակ օրաթերթ»

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By Wally Sarkeesian

Western Armenian, where is your Red Line? Western Armenian never learned about the eastern Armenian betrayal of 1920; after 1991, they again trusted the eastern Armenians put all their eggs in one basket and found out in 2020 that the east Armenian have never changed. Time for new strategy building Government in exile building joint advance technology center with Greek Government gets ready for next Turkish atrocity.

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The traitor’s order is not subject to execution. Notice of participation in the so-called quarterly meetings was also brought to our home at the end of June, when I was in Artsakh, to defend Berdzor in our presence.

2006-2008 served in the Armenian Armed Forces. Then, as a reserve officer, attended all the meetings called for. In 2020 I attended a war that later turned out to be terrorism and treason against the Armenian people. A traitor is one who passes to the enemy to the detriment of his nation and country.The decision of these quarterly meetings has been made by a phenomenon that has handed over to Artsakh’s 72 percent, which signed a conscription order to keep Artsakh intact, but sacrificed Armenian contractual, reserve soldiers, and after all, that questioned the fact of Shushi being Armenian, saying: “Do you mean to say that Shushi, who has 90% and more Azerbaijani population, is Armenian?” And this is treason. He called the city of Shushi unhappy and boring, for which Armenian officers and soldiers died. And this is treason. They have initiated and are initiating construction works against generals, politicians, Armenian heroes, and freedom fighters who liberated Artsakh. And this is treason. He has confessed he didn’t stop the war sooner because he would be called a traitor. And this is treason. He rejected the offer of jointly fighting during the war to create an operational management headquarters, leading the country to disaster. And this is treason. The enemy energy and other strategic infrastructures were not hit in this so-called war. And this is treason. In the early days of the so-called war, he stopped replenishment. And this is treason.2020 Has not resigned since the Nov. 9 disaster, continuing to deepen the disaster and giving territory to the enemy. And this is treason. He hasn’t resigned since Nov. 9th, has engaged in holding on to power, and has not been created to systematically find the missing. And this is treason. He left the Armenian captives who have been in Azerbaijani prisons for almost two years. And this is treason. He doesn’t care about the Armenian captives so much that he said during his election campaign that the captives will last two months. And this is treason. He is the so-called supreme commander who rots the corpses of Armenian soldiers in bags. And this is treason. He counts the number of Armenian victims as a plus, or minus 50, and it is not clear how many people he eventually sacrificed to hand over Artsakh. And this is treason. He hands over Armenian territories and roads to Azerbaijan and calls Armenian deputies with Azerbaijani versions. And this is treason. During his time, systematic hatred was spread in Artsakh’s against our compatriots. And this is treason. He left Artsakh alone, surrounded by enemies from four sides. And this is treason. He hands over Berdzor, saying that no one lives there. And this is treason. He is the so-called supreme commander of the Armenian army and enemies of Armenians. And he is a traitor. The Armenian army is to protect the borders of Armenia, and if the so-called supreme commander gives the borders to the enemy, then he is the enemy, and the army must defend Armenia from the traitor to be able to defend from the enemy. There is no guarantee that the phenomenon does not lead the Armenian reserve officer to sacrifice again for his so-called civilized counterpart. Moreover, there is the confidence that it will. There is no guarantee that he will not hand over the Armenian reserve officer to prisoners and let them wait for two or three years. Moreover, there is the confidence that he will do so. There is the confidence that the Armenian army has made this phenomenon a punishment. They send those who demand the judgment of traitors to quarterly meetings. One of the traitors who appeared in the National Assembly openly said that he is in demonstrations against traitors students will be sent to meetings. Attending army meetings is necessary for any reserve force to recover knowledge, but not under the command of a traitor, of course. Now the Armenian army has come under enemy control.I, as a soldier of the Armenian army, fight against the enemy, and that enemy of mine is the traitor who took the side of the Armenian Highland. I, as a regular soldier of the Armenian army, have a duty to return the army, created to protect the rights of Armenians, to its mission by getting rid of traitors.I, as a regular soldier of the Armenian army, will not obey the orders of a traitor.I, as a protector of Armenians from genocides, heir of Vahan Cheraz, Sargis Chepechi, Harutyun Khachatryan, who fought against the Turks, must not obey the order of the traitor who disgusts our ancestors. And no trial, no punishment can be imposed for not obeying the traitor’s order. For our ancestors, for our martyrs, for the living, and for the future. Hovhannes Ishkhanyan Vahancherazi.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/1037606250/posts/pfbid05gbN6cMMdmERAo8oZuzHig5E2CqLPw9ZfYEBTci2N9fzJVK3WseKpuwhufNxsLW9l/

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