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Karabakh army thwarts Azerbaijan’s infiltration attempt

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July 10, 2014 | 14:05

218510STEPANAKERT. – The adversary carried out an intelligence-diversionary infiltration attempt on the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR)-Armenia state border, in the direction of Karvachar city.

As a result of operative actions by the NKR Defense Army vanguard units, however, the adversary’s intelligence-diversionary team was detected in time, some of its members were detained, and the rest have fled, the NKR MOD press service informed.

The Armenian side did not suffer casualties during the operation.

 

State Department: Our hope is that Armenia and Azerbaijan presidents will accept Hollande’s invitation

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July 03, 2014 | 12:15

The United States are committed to helping both sides reach a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, spokesperson for State Department Jen Psaki said.

217441“It’s our hope that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will accept French President Hollande’s invitation to hold a summit in Paris as soon as possible, and that they will agree to structured negotiations that will lead to a peace agreement. And we call on both sides to redouble their efforts at the negotiation table and to focus on the benefits that peace will bring to people across the region,” she said.

Asked about numerous ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan, Psaki noted that inflammatory rhetoric and statements run counter to the principle of reducing tensions.

“So we certainly think that that damages the peace process, and that’s why we’re encouraging them to redouble their efforts,” State Department official added.

As to the reports of attacks on Armenian settlements by Azerbaijan, Psaki said she does not have any confirmation of those specific reports, “but clearly, a peaceful settlement is in the interests of both countries”.

Armenian forces thwart Azeri sabotage attempt

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July 1, 2014 – 18:26 AMT

Armenian forces thwarted a sabotage attempt as Azeris sought to infiltrate the village of Aygedzor in Armenia’s Tavush province on Tuesday, July 1. Azeris were surrounded, with the attack repelled, Defense Ministry 180391spokesman told PanARMENIAN.Net

No injuries were reported on Armenian side, Artsrun Hovhannisyan said.

Azerbaijan opened fire at the villages of Barekamavan, Aygepar and Movses in Armenia’s Tavush province Friday, June 27.

The administrator of Barekamavan village, Gagik Abazyan, told the newspaper that shots were fired at the village between 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm. The shots targeted homes, kindergartens and the village school.

Aygepar village also came under Azerbaijani fire last night. Shots were fired from large-caliber weapons. The village gas pipeline was damaged. Shootings continued in Movses village from 10:15 pm.

Azerbaijan can no longer cover up its antidemocratic situation with “caviar” politics – Armenia delegate to PACE

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June 26, 2014 | 00:04

216332Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s hysterical reaction at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) session was natural, since he did not have a clear answer to the European MP’s query as to why journalists and bloggers are deprived of their liberty in Azerbaijan.

Non-pro-government Prosperous Armenia Party National Assembly Faction Secretary Naira Zohrabyan, who is also a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, told the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“It was apparent that this PACE session would be held with accusations against Azerbaijan, and I had noted that, after Russia, the international organizations will seriously deal with Azerbaijan,” she added.

As per Zohrabyan, it is obvious that Azerbaijan will no longer be able to cover up this antidemocratic situation with “caviar” politics. Consequently, the mood at the PACE session was anti-Azerbaijani.

“I believe it is understandable that the Armenian delegation’s decision was very accurate to discuss the questions with the European colleagues and to pose the questions to Aliyev and [Azerbaijani FM Elmar] Mammadyarov with their help,” Naira Zohrabyan specifically noted.

 

Aliyev Calls PACE Delegates ‘Liars’

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azeri-protest-PACEAzerbaijani activists protest against Aliyev at the PACE meeting hall

STRASBOURG–Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev found himself in a pickle on Tuesday, when before and after his speech at the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, he was dogged by questions from PACE leadership and delegates about Azerbaijan’s abysmal human rights record and rampant violations of press and speech freedoms in his country.

Aliyev chose his tried and true approach: lashing out at his critics and calling them “liars.”

The day began with Azerbaijanis living in Europe staged a protest at the PACE meeting hall. Having covered their mouths with black tape, the group was protesting Aliyev’s continued insisting that his government was protecting the rights of its citizens; that there were no political prisoners in Azerbaijan; and that there was freedom of speech and expression in his country. “All fundamental freedoms are respected in Azerbaijan,” said the Azerbaijani leader.

Aside from the protesters, Aliyev was confronted by PACE President Anne Brasseur who said that no matter how much a country develops economically, it can never be successful if democratic norms and principles are not respected.

The PACE president stressed that while Azerbaijan was a signatory to some 57 conventions since becoming a member of the Council of Europe, it has failed to implement specific provisions dealing with human rights, guaranteeing freedom of speech, press and assembly.

During the question and answer session following Aliyev’s remarks, PACE deputy from Ireland, Michael McNamara brought up the issue of 39 political prisoners in Azerbaijan and stressed that the recent presidential elections were fraudulent.

An angry Aliyev shot back by asserting that there were no political prisoners in his country.

“If you are making such statements,” Aliyev said, “that’s your biased approach toward our country. You have tried to insult our country on several occasions. Azerbaijan will not fall victim to such provocations.”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev exchanged verbal punches with deputies at today’s PACE plenary session in Strasbourg who raised concerns about human rights violations in Azerbaijan.

PACE deputy from the UK, Paul Flynn, was also not spared Aliyev’s wrath. When Flynn questioned the Azerbaijani leader about state attacks against journalists in Azerbaijan, Aliyev angrily retorted: “You are lying.”

Aliyev and Karabakh
A presentation by Aliyev at an international arena would not be complete without a discussion of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Azerbaijani leader’s continued insistence that the current republic of Armenia was actually part of historic Azerbaijan and that Yerevan was granted to the Armenians in the early 20th Century.

He went on to assert that Armenia had not complied with several international agreements–an ironic statement on Aliyev’s part since he was earlier chided by the PACE president for having ignored critical conventions of the Council of Europe, of which, incidentally, Azerbaijan currently holds the chairmanship.

Prior to the beginning of the PACE session, the Azerbaijani delegation aimed to disqualify the Armenain delegation by proposing a resolution, which claimed that Armenians were aggressors in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. That motion was not even brought to the floor for a vote.

Increasing violations of the cease-fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan

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Two Azerbaijani soldiers and two Armenians died earlier in the day on Friday when a new violation of the cease-fire established on the “line of contact” around Nagorno-Karabakh.

arton101014-480x270Poghosian Narek, Armenian sergeant 26 years, was shot dead in a section of the front line in the south-Karabakh in the early morning. New reports quoting Armenian Karabakh military sources reveal that he was killed during an incursion of Azerbaijan. They said that the Azerbaijani side had three injured in the assault.

The NKR Defense Army has not issued any official statement on the fatal incident before Friday night.

The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan said that early in the morning one of his soldiers committed suicide after killing a fellow soldier and wounded another.

Another Armenian soldier was found dead at the border between Armenia and Nakhichevan exclave of Azerbaijan. Citing the findings “preliminary” military investigators, the Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian said later in the day that the young man of 20 years, Grisha Khachatryan, has probably killed himself by accident.

Ohanian spoke to reporters after inspecting the positions of the Armenian army along the border with Nakhichevan. Two Armenian soldiers were killed by Azerbaijani snipers on June 5, leading the Department of Defense Baku threatening “serious consequences”.

The Armenian army has responded to another section of the border of Nakhichevan. Razm.info, a news site for the defense based in Yerevan, said last week that nearly 100 square kilometers of neutral territory were attacked and under Armenian control accordingly. Were published photographs showing Armenian soldiers taking and fortifying positions on snowy mountains.

In a statement released Thursday, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence denied losing ground in the region. However, some Azerbaijani media reported last week that the Armenians launched an “offensive” in Nakhichevan.

New fighting also broke out Thursday night in the west section of the long border between Armenia and the rest of Azerbaijan. According to the news agency APA, three civilians Alibeyli residents, a village on the border of Azerbaijan, including a 5 year old girl, were injured and hospitalized after strokes cross fire from the Armenian side.

The Armenian village near Aygepar also reported to have been within the scope of fire. “Azerbaijanis fired at our villages for about 90 minutes,” said the mayor of the village, Andranik Aidianian. “They stopped when our troops retaliated.”

Monday, June 23, 2014,
Claire © armenews.com

Russian FM: Russia interested in quick resolution of Karabakh conflict

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Russia is interested in a quick resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, bilaterally and as a co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Russian FMLavrov said at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian in Yerevan.

“There is a basis for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, i.e. coordinated principles. Now, it is necessary to reach an agreement on the parameters for their implementation and the sequence of moves,” Lavrov said.

He noted that Russia, as a co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group, will seek the continuation of the direct dialogue between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents.

Armenian MP: NATO PA seminar was held amid anti-Armenian hysteria of Azerbaijani delegates

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June 20, 2014 | 17:16

YEREVAN. – Armenian delegate said participation in NATO PA seminar was very important for Armenia.

215506Unless Armenian delegates participated, Azerbaijanis would use an opportunity to distort the truth about regional realities, Koryun Nahapetyan said.

The head of Armenian delegation to NATO PA Koryun Nahapetyan, MP Tevan Poghosyan and analyst Richard Giragosian participated in Rose-Roth seminar that was held in Baku on June 16-18.

Nayapetyan said Armenia attaches importance to cooperation with NATO, but it would be better not to hold PA meetings in a country with lack of democracy.

“It is very difficult to participate in Baku-hosted events, since Azerbaijani side is using every chance to present Armenia as an aggressor. We could not hold dialogue with them, Azerbaijan is definitely not ready for a dialogue,” the MP added.

As to the atmosphere during the seminar, Nahapetyan noted that the seminar was held amid anti-Armenian hysteria of Azerbaijani participants.

“We not only resisted the pressure, but also presented our position. They turned  dialogue into a tense debate, and our attempt to be engaged in a constructive dialogue failed. Other participants acted as observers and did not join the discussions between Armenian and Azerbaijani delegates,” Nahapetyan added.

 

Azerbaijan shuts down ‘Gülen-linked’ schools

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BAKU, Azerbaijan – Anadolu Agency 

Azerbaijan’s government-run energy company has announced that private schools run by affiliates of the movement led by U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen have been n_67988_1closed down.

From February to April, the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) took over dozens of private high schools, university exam preparation centers and universities run by a Turkish education company called Çağ Ögretim, which is thought to be linked to the Gülen movement.

SOCAR announced on June 18 that it had decided to close the schools, which were operated by the company now known as Azerbaijan International Education Center, due to “high maintenance costs and difficulties in project management.”

In Azerbaijan, 13 schools, one university and 13 prep schools linked to Gülen affiliates had been operating. Two years ago all of these institutions were transferred to the Azerbaijan state oil company, SOCAR, but preserved their management, teachers and curriculum without any changes. Diplomatic sources said these schools were still operating and there were no changes in the administration’s view of them.

Pro-government newspapers have reported that the Gülen community has succeeded in “infiltrating” the Azeri state and is influencing the decision-making process of Turkey’s oil-rich neighbor.

In March, Azeri media reported that Elnur Aslanov, the head of President İlham Aliyev’s Political Analysis and Information Department, had been sacked over alleged links to the movement.

The move came after claims that Gülen’s network had infiltrated state institutions in Azerbaijan and established cohorts among politicians.

Tension between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Gülen, former allies, has been simmering for years, but boiled over after the government’s decision to close private test prep schools (dershanes) across the country.

The move to shut down the test prep schools came amid Erdoğan’s struggle against what he calls the “parallel state,” which he accuses of plotting against the government through corruption and graft claims.

The rift between the government and the Gülen movement was crystalized on Dec. 17, 2013, when massive graft investigations were initiated by prosecutors and police chiefs allegedly linked to Gülen.

Thousands of people, including Erdoğan, national intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and a wide range of journalists, academics, business leaders and nongovernmental organization representatives, have been wiretapped for years by the police as part of different probes, Turkish media claimed Feb. 24.

June/19/2014

Armenian troops have taken control of several positions in Nakhichevan

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What is happening at the border between Armenia and Nakhichevan? Although Armenian official media emit little information, several bodies of information and media such as Nakhichevan-1Razm.info say, supporting photographs after the attack Azeri who had killed two soldiers Armenians there few days near Yeraskh (border between Armenia and Nakhichevan), the Armenian army had advanced to Nakhichevan and took several strategic positions to better control the Azeri movements

Razm.info says Armenian army conquered more than one hundred square kilometers Nakhchivan to occupy positions that allow them to better control the situation on a hilly and mountainous terrain. The Armenian reaction after the bloody attack Azeri would have been a surprise to them. Armenians having control of the situation, their shots if necessary, up to a radius of 25-30 km Nakhichevan.

Recall that the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic is an Armenian territory, which was annexed to Azerbaijan in 1921 by Soviet and emptied of its Armenian population in the 20th century.

Nakhichevan-2

Krikor Amirzayan