Tag: baku

In EVN Report’s news roundup for the week of February 9: European Council President Charles Michel and Russian President Vladimir Putin enthusiastically congratulate Ilham Aliyev on his landslide victory; Armenia’s president travels to Hungary for an official visit; Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan once again speaks about the need to change Armenia’s Constitution to remove the reference to the declaration of independence and more.

The Non-Aligned Movement is a diplomatic platform where Azerbaijan, as a major oil-producing nation, tries to exert influence by supporting ex-colonies that are purportedly fighting colonialism. Garren Jansezian explains.

In September, two families-in-law from Artsakh found refuge in the village of Yeghvard, Armenia, joining over 100,000 displaced Armenians facing similar challenges. Marut Vanyan, a journalist from Artsakh, provides insight into their experiences.

In EVN Report’s news roundup for the week of August 25, 2023: Baku refuses to repatriate the body of a young woman to Artsakh who was killed in a car crash in Armenia; an Armenian serviceman is shot dead by Azerbaijan on Armenian territory; Azerbaijani president snubs Belgium’s Foreign Affairs Minister for her “pro-Armenian stance”; Yerevan City Election Campaign kicks off and more.

In EVN Report’s news roundup for the week of August 4, 2023: Despite calls from around the world to lift the blockade of Artsakh, Baku continues to strangulate 120,000 people; the abduction and arrest of a 68-year-old resident of Artsakh during a humanitarian transfer raises fears of deepening the already acute crisis in the region; diplomats accredited to Armenia and UN agencies visit Kornidzor where trucks of humanitarian aid continue to be blocked by Baku.

In EVN Report’s news roundup for the week of July 14, 2023: Baku bans the ICRC from providing humanitarian aid through the Lachin Corridor, accuses the organization of smuggling illegal goods; a large rally takes place in Stepanakert, Artsakh demanding the unblocking of the Lachin Corridor and an adequate international response; the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are set to meet in Brussels tomorrow.

In EVN Report’s news roundup for the week of July 7, 2023: The situation in Artsakh becomes extremely grave as Azerbaijan’s total blockade continues; PM Nikol Pashinyan says a meeting with Azerbaijan’s president will take place in Brussels in the near future; two Armenian serviceman abducted on Armenian territory by Azerbaijani forces are sentenced to 11 years and six months by a court in Sumgait and more.

In EVN Report’s news roundup for the week of June 23, 2023: It has been over a week that all humanitarian aid and cargo into Artsakh has been blocked by Baku; PACE Resolution condemns Azerbaijan and expresses surprise that Baku refuses to acknowledge the serious humanitarian and human rights consequences of the blockade; Chair of the European Parliament’s sub-committee on Security and Defense visits Lachin Corridor, calls the blockade illegal and says Baku must ensure the rights and well being of the Armenians of Artsakh.

In EVN Report’s news roundup for the week of June 16, 2023: Azerbaijani forces cross Hakari Bridge in an attempt to hoist their flag; Baku bans all humanitarian passenger and cargo transport through the Lachin Corridor; two Indian nationals injured following Azerbaijani attack on a metallurgical plant in Armenia’s Ararat region.

Iran will never accept any Azerbaijani military or political control of southern Armenia. While Tehran is pursuing a policy of strategic patience vis-à-vis Azerbaijan, it does have red lines that, if crossed, would likely produce a swift reaction.

The EU monitoring mission can provide a useful tool for accountability and transparency, but it is not a substitute for hard security. Armenia needs to address its own security concerns and focus on creating a stable and secure environment for its citizens.

The security context in December showed that regardless of negotiations or the general contours of a potential peace treaty, actual and sustainable peace with the Aliyev Government will remain elusive. This month’s security report introduces the concept of ontological security.

Baku does not want an equitable peace, the West struggles to advance the negotiations, and Moscow prefers freezing the process to create a new status quo it can control. Yerevan will need to enhance its bargaining abilities by engaging in asymmetrical aggressive bargaining.

Azerbaijan has made an enormous strategic mistake, Russia has allowed for a sizable power vacuum in the region, and the United States has determined to capitalize on these developments, undertaking a policy pivot in the South Caucasus.

Following Azerbaijan’s latest attack, this time against Armenia proper, international actors are calling on both sides to de-escalate the situation. Bothsidism in this context is ridiculous, tiresome, and shameful. Not naming the aggressor or who is benefiting from violence is not a neutral act. It is not telling the truth.

Armenia hasn’t participated in any multilateral connectivity initiatives in the South Caucasus since independence, primarily due to the war with Azerbaijan. Since the 2020 Artsakh War, new projects are taking shape—again without Armenia’s participation.

If the EU is honest in its commitment to make peace possible in the South Caucasus, then it needs to address Baku’s ongoing anti-Armenian rhetoric and policy of creating permanent tensions on the borders to pressure Armenia for further concessions.

The 2020 Artsakh War and the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war are the first classic interstate wars in almost two decades involving the regular armies on both sides of the conflict, highlighting trends in warfare, including the effect of the latest technological solutions.

Azerbaijan’s motivations, strategy, manipulation, and attempts to legitimize its every military aggression against Artsakh are gross violations of the November 9, 2020 tripartite statement that ended the 2020 Artsakh War.

Բաքվի կողմից 2020-ի նոյեմբերի 9-ի եռակողմ հայտարարության կոպիտ խախտումները ներկայացնող հոդվածի ՁայնաԳիրը։

Just days after Azerbaijan’s most recent military attack, local authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh instructed residents of the Armenian village of Aghavno to leave their homes by August 25, when it is scheduled to be handed over to Azerbaijani control.

Baku’s oil economy is not sustainable, as diminishing revenues in the long-term increase the probability of domestic instability in Azerbaijan, potentially triggering militarized interstate disputes.

In EVN report’s news roundup for the week of June 24: An Armenian soldier is shot dead by Azerbaijani Armed Forces in Armenia’s Gegharkunik region; Artur Vanetsyan, head of the Fatherland Party and leader of the “I Have Honor” bloc resigns his seat in parliament; while in Baku, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the OSCE Minsk Group ceased its activities because of the U.S. and France plus more.

Are we headed toward a better, or a more worrying future? Is the pendulum swinging toward more uncertainty or toward a lull? Two fundamental questions stand out: the survival of Artsakh and the independence of Armenia.

In the wake of lingering concern over the events unfolding in Ukraine following Russia’s February 24 invasion and its defeat in Artsakh in 2020, how can Armenia pull itself out of this chain of elevated conflicts?

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Brussels on April 6, 2022, on the initiative of the European Council president. Why is the EU taking an interest now when it was a mere observer during the 2020 Artsakh War?

Baku is consistently thwarting all post-war negotiations and existing formats, as the sole agenda of Aliyev’s regime is the total annihilation of Armenians from Artsakh, and possibly even the Republic of Armenia.

As Ukraine’s western city comes under Russian missile attack, the Armenian community is wrapping its treasures, but preparing to stay.

Over a year after Russian troops were deployed to Artsakh, here’s what we know about the Russian presence there, with the historical background for Moscow’s drive for boots on the ground in Artsakh.

A power vacuum was created after the pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, allowing China, Russia, Iran, and also Turkey to play a greater role in Central Asia triggering new developments. What does that mean for the wider region?

While Baku prepared for war, Armenia relied on overconfidence, willful ignorance and underestimated the enemy leading to its defeat in 2020. But Azerbaijan, intoxicated by its own victory, will also lose because of Aliyev’s strategic narcissism.

Since the end of the 2020 Artsakh War, tensions between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Azerbaijan have been escalating. Although an outright military confrontation seems unlikely, it would have devastating consequences for the region.

Developments after the 2020 Artsakh War reveal that Azerbaijan has no intention to work toward regional peace and stability. Together with Turkey, Baku aims to change the regional structure at the expense of Armenia’s security interests and needs.

Today marks the one year anniversary of the Tavush clashes. This article looks into the chronology of events as they developed, the subsequent narrative that was perpetuated in Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the consequent reactions of regional and international powers.

A Military Trophy Park-Museum dedicated to Azerbaijan’s military victory over Artsakh was inaugurated in Baku. It is a gruesome display that includes hundreds of helmets of Armenian soldiers killed in battle and grossly exaggerated life-size figures of dead and dying captives.

The inclusion of the term genocide is not being loosely thrown around. As the war rages on, the potential for genocide against ethnic Armenians in Artsakh is very real and highly probable, writes Suren Manukyan.

The flare-up of violence on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border triggered a chain of reactions in Azerbaijan and Turkey. Historian Vahram Ter-Matevosyan examines the domestic situation in Azerbaijan and the implications of Turkish involvement.

Nora, a 94 year old refugee from Baku, Azerbaijan no longer wants to show her face to the world. Her forced exile following the pogroms against the Armenians 29 years ago has left her paranoid and yet as strange as it may sound, somehow hopeful.

A prominent Armenian Bolshevik activist and head of the Baku Commune Stepan Shahumyan’s ghost now wanders through his native Caucasus. Armenians have largely forgotten his century-old verbal attacks on nationalism and insistence on internationalist fraternity of peoples, yet his statues remain and streets, villages and towns are named after him in Armenia and Artsakh.

After his many years working in Brussels and trying to counter the effects of Azerbaijan’s Caviar Diplomacy, Bedo Demirdjian writes about his anger and frustration at how many European politicians received money from Azerbaijani authorities in a scheme being dubbed the Azerbaijani Laundromat.

Tatevik Hayrapetyan writes that the Karabakh Movement was a catalyst for domestic developments in Azerbaijan. Unlike in Armenia, however, alternative forces like the Azerbaijani Popular Front in Azerbaijan, couldn’t find a way to collaborate with the local Communist Party. The issue of Karabakh and anti-Armenian propaganda was thereby used in their struggle against the Communist regime.

The Karabakh Movement was a crystallizing moment in the collective and historical memory of the Armenian nation. In this first in a series of articles about the Movement, EVN Report presents a chronology of the events of 1988 which eventually paved the way to independence.

This special section is a historical overview of the disputed region of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic, NKR), one of the last unresolved conflicts in the former Soviet space.