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Azerbaijan’s armed troops opened fire on the north-eastern border village of Chinari (Tavush region) on Tuesday, Tert.am has learned from the community’s governor.
Samvel Sahhoyan said that the gunshots, heard early in the morning, did not fortunately cause any damage or loss.
“The gunshots were in the morning. They have stopped now; we don’t have any damage or ruin,” he told our correspondent.
Even in the best case, the Azerbaijani government is not very talkative. But his silence with stone walls after its neighbor Georgia has triumphantly confiscated heroin on the 
border between Georgia and Azerbaijan for a value of approximately $ 175 million has raised questions about the reasons for his reserve.
On July 11, the Georgian Border Police found a record 2.79 tonnes of liquid heroin inside 93 containers of 30 kg of laundry by hand carried by truck between Azerbaijan and Georgia. A video released by the Georgian Interior Ministry shows that the containers were carrying Georgian flags and the words “Clean Georgia”. The cargo truck was slightly fuzzy name “Go” or “G3” and marking “Internationale Spedition.”
In a statement on 25 July in a Georgian parliamentary committee, the Georgian Interior Minister Aleksandr Chikaidze said the cargo belonged to the Taliban in Afghanistan, has he alleged, had financed his expedition to Europe reported the news magazine Tabula. Two Georgian citizens were arrested in connection with the shipment.
Chikaidze had earlier stated that the goods had traveled from Afghanistan through Iran to Azerbaijan, and was headed to Turkey and to Europe. Citing an ongoing investigation, he declined to comment further.
The status of Azerbaijan and Georgia as part of a corridor of narcotics from Afghanistan and Iran to Europe was established Both countries cooperate with the United Nations and the Drug Enforcement Administration United States (DEA) to take action against international trafficking networks.
During the first nine months of 2012, the latest year for which information is available, Azerbaijan has confiscated a total of more than 654 kg of drugs, according to the American State Department, citing data from the Azerbaijani government.
This record-which past earned praise from the State Department – calls Azerbaijanis to wonder how the heroine managed to pass the Azerbaijani border control and Georgia.
But the Azerbaijani officials do not speak.
In comments to EurasiaNet.org, the spokesman of the service control borders of Azerbaijan Elhan Nagiyev said his agency had “no information” on the liquid heroin seizure at the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia. “The Georgian law enforcement bodies do not catch us” to help for this mission, he added.
The Spokesman of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of National Security also refused to comment.
However, an expert on local drug believes that the Azerbaijani government to cooperate with the Georgian authorities on this drug bust.
“These operations are under preparation for months and involve a network of secret agents,” said Mazahir Efendiyev, national coordinator of Azerbaijan for the Drug Enforcement Program in the South Caucasus of the United Nations.
Citing unnamed government sources, the pro-opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat alleged that the Georgian Interior Minister Chikaidze discussed details of the operation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the Interior Minister Ramil Usubov and Chief border control Elchin Guliyev during an official visit from 13 to 16 May in Baku.
At the time, Azerbaijani media reported that Chikaidze had discussed “border issues.”
If the Yeni Musavat newspaper report is correct, some observers wonder why Baku does not recognize his public success with Georgia.
The 2014 Report of the International Narcotics Control Strategy of the State Department of the United States estimates that “up to 11 tons of narcotics”, largely from neighboring Iran, traveling through Azerbaijan every year. Turkey tightens border controls, Azerbaijan could become a “transit country increasingly favored for drugs’ has set the report.
The new drug liquid heroin seized by Azerbaijan and Georgia would serve to reinforce the message that Baku is taking this threat seriously.
But Efendiyev says that maybe Baku decided to stay quiet to let Georgia, “a friendly country”, earning the spotlight and improve its own domestic political prestige. The announcement of Tbilisi on heroin seizure took place two days before the local elections in Georgia, a vote that the Georgian Dream coalition government won.
Ex-intelligence officer against Arastun Orujlu, director of the Center pro-East-West opposition research, sees another possible reason for the silence of Baku.
“The service control or customs border of Azerbaijan are not doing their job properly or. . . these owners [these drugs] have strong friends in these organs “assumed Orujlu.
The National Council of Democratic Forces, a unit of the largest opposition parties of Azerbaijan, echoed that claim, condemning the government for failing to say anything about the seizure of heroin, but to make announcements “very strong” on the arrest of “civil society activists on false possessions of drugs.”
The government has not responded. Efendiyev has rejected any discussion on the links between drug traffickers and Azerbaijani officials, noting that the country has confiscated “over 10 tons” of drugs since 2007.
Yet despite this vigilance, has he added, “of course, the regional drug lords have their presence in the country.”
The American Embassy in Baku did not respond to requests for comment on a possible role by the American DEA in detecting sending liquid heroin.
The State Department wrote in its report “International Narcotics Control Strategy” that the DEA, who trained the employees of the Azerbaijani State anti-narcotics work, “contributed to that Azerbaijan continues Organizations international drug trafficking in 2013. “
He noted that Baku has provided “extraordinary cooperation” in the fight against drug trafficking, and said he expects “that this support will continue.”
Editor’s Note:
Shahin Abbasov is a freelance journalist based in Baku.
Eurasianet
Nagorno-Karabakh is going to be the place where the Armenians’ fate will be determined, the country’s defense minister said today in a press conference 
blessed by the Supreme Patriarch.
“That’s doesn’t mean, of course, that we have to direct all efforts to Karabakh,” Lieutenant-General Movses Hakobyan warned.
Addressing the past weeks’ cross-border skirmishes, the minister said that the Defense Army managed to resist and adequately react to the Azerbaijani attacks in all the directions.
“We have suffered losses, which we must avoid to the best of our efforts. We resorted to counteraction and preventive operations to prove that it wasn’t the right way. We are always ready to counteract to the enemy, be it today or tomorrow,” he said.
Commenting on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aiyev’s earlier statement that they are ready to “liberate” Karabakh, the Minister considered it an absurd move.
Hakobyan noted that the Armenians of Karabakh and the diaspora have drawn a very important conclusion by stating that the Armenian side “has nothing more to lose”. “All consolidated over one issue to prove that we are unanimous and united, and ready to solve a common problem. Our soldier gave us a signal today that it is it is necessary to be consolidated and give prevalence to the state interest,” he added.
Addressing the Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani presidents’ recent meeting in Sochi (Russia), the minister stressed that their duty is to bring to life important foreign policy decisions made on the level of presidents and foreign ministers. “Any war finishes with negotiations; hence we hail any meeting of this kind. I think the presidents have agreed upon everything, so it would be good to realize all that,” he said, ruling out the possibility of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict without the country’s direct participation in the process.
“Once Karabakh joins the talks, we can expect a solution in a just one year,” he added.
Asked about the Russian arms sales to Azerbaijan, the minister said the country isn’t positive about the deal. “Our country’s president has expressed a very tough position; it is, of course, very bad that our ally sells weapon to our enemy. The weapons will be used against the rival, no matter where they is purchased from. So it is very bad for us.”
Hakobyan, who is the commander of Karabakh’s Defense Army, said they are every day preparing for a possible war, adding that the country will come out as a winner in case the scenario turns real. “My soldier is ready even for that today. Our everyday activities are directed to that,” added the minister.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations announced yesterday that it will form the residents of border villages in northern Armenia to better guard against the Azeri and shots to 
prevent them from accidentally crossing the border.
Armen Yeritsian said the ministry launched during special defense for 21 rural communities in the province of Tavush following the recent upsurge in fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and around Nagorno-Karabakh. He said that the Armenian army, whose troops are stationed along the border, supported the idea.
“The villagers lived under fire for a long time, but we have experts who will go out to them and tell them what to do in times like these,” said Yeritsian.
He said department staff will also publish details of these villages and the surrounding areas to prevent accidental crossing of the border of Azerbaijan by local residents cards. “We need to conduct explanatory work and tell them where they can go and where they can not,” said he added.
A resident of one of the border villages Chinari, has died at the age of 33 on Aug. 8, the day after his arrest in Azerbaijan by the military authorities. The Armenian government and many Chinari believe Karen Petrossian was murdered or beaten to death.
At 77, a resident of another village in Tavush, Verin Karmiraghbyur, died last May, three months after being detained by Azerbaijani in similar circumstances.
Sarkisian urged August 10 villagers of the border to be more cautious in their movements. “The people of our border villages must realize they are dealing with a furious and savage enemy,” he has said.
A politician of the Armenian opposition announced yesterday that the six main political parties of the country represented in Parliament have agreed to jointly Tavush visit this weekend. Ruben Hakobyan, head of the parliamentary group of the opposition Zharangutyun, said they will propose this week a joint draft legislation that would, drinking water and other public services to the affected communities free electricity.
“These border communities need to have privileges because, basically, they are also soldiers, they defend the border,” said Hakobyan.
Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan believes that the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in recent days has shown that Azerbaijan’s 
propaganda of that state’s military budget exceeding Armenia’s entire state budget does not produce any results.
“Azerbaijan has come to realize that it cannot change the situation by resorting to military operations,” Mr Melik-Shahnazaryan told reporters on Saturday.
According to him, the Armenian side’s military success, as well as losses, must have its impact on the negotiations.
“With respect to propaganda, our present task is to realize that Azerbaijani authorities are seeking to destroy the sections of that country’s society that could cause public discontent with the authorities. If we miss this chance, all our losses will be in vain.”
Asked if the Sochi meeting accounts for the lower border tensions, Mr Melik-Shahnazaryan said:
“I am quite sure that Aliev was given to understand at the Sochi meeting that military operations had no sense. It was a diplomatic formula in Sochi that Azerbaijan would not do anything by means of military operations, but threaten its own security.”
Azerbaijan has been convinced that the Armenian side is always prepared and it will not be able to fight against Armenia in any respect.
In an interview with Tert.am, a Defense Ministry official said that many Armenians from diaspora communities have expressed willingness to join the defense operations on frontlines 
of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh amid the continuing armed tension.
Major-General Vardan Avetisyan, who heads the Ministry’s Public Relations Department, said many now look forward to a decision or permission to travel to Armenia.
“Most different specialists have applied, naturally for heading to the frontline; the volunteers are first of all participants of the [Karabakh] liberation war. Narrow specialists – mainly from the technology, communications and IT sector – have applied to us. Thousands of our compatriots from the Diaspora too, have expressed willingness to visit Armenia to head to the frontline. They only wait for a corresponding decision or permission to arrive in their homeland,” he said, noting that the national armed forces are not now in an urgent need for replenishment.
Avetisyan considered the expression of such willingness an encouraging factor and a good moral support for the Armenian soldier.
“The commander and soldier standing on the frontline receives an unimaginable power from our compatriots’ willingness to be next to them. The mere realization of the fact that an Armenian living in another part of the world is ready to leave his family, work and warm cornet to stand by the soldier in the trenches makes our servicemen enthusiastic,” he added.
RIA Novosti/Yulia Nasulina
More than 400 Ukrainian troops have been allowed to cross into Russia after requesting sanctuary. It’s the largest, but not the first, case of desertion into Russia by Ukrainian soldiers involved in Kiev’s military 
crackdown in the east of the country.
According to the Rostov Region’s border guard spokesman Vasily Malaev, a total of 438 soldiers, including 164 Ukrainian border guards, have been allowed into Russia on Sunday night.
One of the Ukrainians was seriously injured on his arrival in Russia. He was taken to the hospital for surgery, the officials added.
The other Ukrainian soldiers have been housed in a tent camp deployed near the checkpoint via which they entered Russian territory. The Russian border guards are providing them with food and bedding.
Footage taken by the Russian media at the scene showed the Ukrainian soldiers being handed ration packs and resting in their temporary shelter. Those who agreed to speak on camera said they were relieved to be in safety for the first time in weeks.
ISIS now controls wide swaths of Iraq and Syria. Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, seems out to establish an Islamic empire. Are the borders in the Middle East about to be redrawn?
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria appears to fear little. In the past, this army of radical Islamists were primarily fighting moderate rebel groups in Syria, but in recent days they have waged their first brutal campaigns against the Syrian army.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, ISIS fighters recently provoked bloody battles in the northern Syrian province of Raqqa, during which at least 85 of dictator Bashar al-Assad’s soldiers were killed. The fate of around 200 further military personnel remains unclear, while 28 Islamists are also thought to have died. It seems clear that ISIS are willing to pay that price to expand their influence.
A tailor-made state
“The group’s goal is to establish their cross-boundary zone, beginning in Syria and Iraq,” said Falko Walde of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Amman, Jordan. And that’s only an intermediary step, he added – ISIS wants to reach other states in the region, including Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and even Cyprus and parts of southern Turkey.
“The group wants to create a state rooted in its conceptions of politics and society,” Walde said.
In recent months, the Islamists have already taken control of significant parts of Syria and Iraq, imposing draconian laws – including arbitrary executions – wherever they rule. In the Iraqi city of Mosul, women face severe penalties if they fail to wear a full veil in public.
The group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced the establishment of a caliphate in Mosul at the end of June. Al-Baghdadi, who was born in Iraq, views himself as a successor to the prophet Mohammad, claims to rule over all Muslims and has taken up the old idea of an Islamic empire.
Islamists like him don’t accept the current borders between Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon on the grounds that Western powers drew them up during and after World War I. They see the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire – long the decisive governing entity in Asia Minor and the Middle East – in the early 20th century as the main reason for the alleged weakness of Muslims today. In other words, Islamists believe a new Islamic empire is the way toward a better future.
Weakened government
Meanwhile, the Syrian army is trying to fend off ISIS. After a week of fighting, they retook a gas field that the Islamists conquered in mid-July. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says ISIS killed around 300 Assad supporters taking the land.
ISIS are just one of many rebel groups trying to undermine Assad’s government, and yet the Syrian president remains in power three years after the civil war broke out.
In neighboring Iraq, the government is facing a crisis. Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki provoked the country’s Sunni minority with corruption and partisanship.
“There are many secular Iraqis who feel excluded by the prime minister’s approach, which is rooted heavily in religion,” said Volker Perthes, director of Berlin think tank the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), in an interview with the radio station Deutschlandfunk. “And there are many Sunnis, particularly in rural areas and cities other than the capital, who feel marginalized by Maliki’s government.”
Opposing developments
The disunity in Iraqi society has proven beneficial for ISIS, and adding to the unrest is the fact that northern Iraqi Kurds are seeking to establish their own state. They no longer want to be part of Iraq or part of an Islamic empire. Instead, they’re fighting for political, cultural, and economic independence.
Both developments – the Kurds’ desire to separate from Iraq and ISIS’ brutal fight to establish a caliphate in the region – are raising questions about whether the current borders can be maintained. It seems clear that the already weakened governments in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon will find it difficult to preserve their states’ integrity.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met Thursday, July 24, with the members of the Public Council to discuss the immigration problem, its causes and ways of prevention. The meeting also focused on Armenia’s joining the Eurasian Economic Union, border security, environment, electricity price hike, funded pensions as well as constitutional reforms.
The border security got special attention, causing hot debate regarding a possibility of arming the residents of border villages. President Sargsyan, however, spoke against any initiative of the kind.
Earlier, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said that all the possible routes from Azerbaijan to Karvachar area of Nagorno Karabakh will be mined.
“The Nagorno Karabakh defense army is taking appropriate measures to discover possible routes of penetration from Azerbaijan into Karvachar, including work on mining of those paths,” Ohanyan said. “The alert level on the frontline has been raised. Commanders of the NKR defense army are taking all necessary measures. Population is warned accordingly.”
Meanwhile, former commander of Arabo detachment Manvel Yeghiazaryan said he supports the idea of arming the residents of Armenia’s border villages.
“It’s erroneous to think that weapons can results in increase of the crime rate in the area,” he believes.
Yeghiazaryan also supported Tavush province governor’s offer to invite diplomats and representatives of international organizations to visit the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, where “they can see everything with their own eyes.”
Source: PanARMENIAN.Net
Considering Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s political personality, as well as the upcoming presidential election in Turkey, he is most unlikely to sacrifice nationalists’ votes and open the border 
with Armenia expert in Turkic studies Ruben Melkonyan told Tert.am as he commented the report by the Taraf newspaper.
“In our age of infowars the mass media are used for addressing messages and, sometimes, for probing into the stance of the public and political circles. This statement raises certain questions as the report says that Erdogan has issued an instruction for the opening of the border. However, the opening of the border is supposed to be preceded by certain procedures – the ratification of protocols and establishment of diplomatic relations,” Melkonyan said.
This should mainly be considered in the context of infowars and, sometimes, disinformation. The ground for this opinion is the Turkish PM’s political personality, especially the possibility of the upcoming presidential election dealing a blow to his political rating, as his rivals will make use of it to win over nationalistic and anti-Armenian voters.
Melkonyan does not rule out Erdogan’s rivals using it to “entrap” him.
Expert in Turkish studies Hakob Chakryan believes that the Taraf report is misinformation. Even if such an initiative were undertaken, Turks will derail it.
Turkish press also notes that Turkey will open the border under the US pressure. But the border opened under pressure can easily be closed again or resistance can be shown, with new problems for Armenia.
As to whether it may be a step on the threshold of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey, Chakryan said:
“Since 1991, Turkey’s policy toward Armenia has not seen any progress. They keep on speaking of opening the borders, but they start bargaining over it and the issue is closed. I do not think Turkey has a sincere intention to open the border. Turkey is pursuing a clearly anti-Armenian policy now irrespective of whether it will open the border. They should begin with establishing interstate relations, and the border will mechanically be opened.”
In any case, the Turkish foreign office is directing the mass media, the expert said.
Head of the ARF-D Hay Dat office Giro Manoyan told Tert.am that the likely reason for the report by the Taraf newspaper was to discredit the Turkish premier. The newspaper has problems with the Turkish authorities and rumor has it may be shut down.
As to any links with the approaching centennial of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey, Manoyan said, “Everything’s possible.”
source: tert.am