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Photo: Ministry of Defense of Armenia
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As the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continues between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey has reiterated its support for Azerbaijan in both the "negotiations and clashes."
According to Yerevan, Azerbaijan has launched a large-scale offensive in the south of the frontline and targeted Stepanakert with bombs and missiles, the capital of the de-facto state of Nagorno-Karabakh, throughout the night.
Armenia should withdraw from the Azerbaijani territory it occupies before any talk of a cease-fire, Turkey's Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar said today (October 8).
"Those who stay silent on the occupied Azerbaijani lands should ensure Armenia's retreat from Karabakh instead of calling for a cease-fire," Akar said and added that it was "hypocritical to remain silent to Armenia's occupation and massacres."
Saying that there is now a new opportunity for a lasting solution to the issue, Akar remarked, "We can't afford to waste time for another 30 years."
The ECtHR decision
Turkey's Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül has criticized a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling calling for interim measures against Turkey at the request of Armenia, which is now locked in a conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan.
The ruling was political and was taken without even considering Turkey's point of view, Gül told reporters in the capital Ankara.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hami Aksoy has also criticized the decision, saying the ECtHR move was a "blow to its credibility and reputation" as it lacked foundation, and Ankara was not even consulted.
No planned meetings between Baku and Yerevan
Armenia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Anna Nagdalyan told Russia's state-run Sputnik News that Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan has no plans to meet with his counterpart from Azerbaijan.
A meeting of Armenia's and Azerbaijan's foreign ministers is not currently planned in any format", Nagdalyan said, when asked if a trilateral meeting of the ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan would be held during Mnatsakanyan's upcoming visit to Moscow, where he will meet with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov on October 12.
Kremlin: Dialogue continues
Russia is keeping close contact with Armenia on all possible levels, including the top-level, Kremlin Spokesperson Dimitry Peskov has said.
"You know that he [Mnatsakanyan] is engaged in close dialogue with his Russian counterpart, Lavrov. You know that Putin regularly holds phone conversations with Pashinyan [Armenia's PM], and they will maintain dialogue. So, this [Putin-Mnatsakanyan talks] is currently not on the agenda", Peskov told reporters when asked about the possible meeting, according to Sputnik.
Meanwhile, Russia's PM Mikhail Mishustin is going to Yerevan today for a two-day visit as part of a Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) meeting.
Aliyev: Armenia ignored OSCE meeting
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has said that Armenia's foreign minister did not attend the meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group in early October.
"By the way, our foreign minister will meet Minsk Group ambassadors in Geneva tomorrow [today]. And as far as I know, Armenia's foreign minister should have gone there at the start of the month, but he ignored it," he told Euronews.
"Our foreign minister is there. This shows who wants negotiations and who makes accusations against Azerbaijan," he added.
Armenia's top intelligence officer has been dismissed
Armenian's President Armen Sarkissian today dismissed the head of the country's National Security Service, Argishti Karamyan.
Karamyan's dismissal came at the suggestion of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, according to a presidential decree.
The decree gave no reason for the dismissal, but he was apparently only appointed this June.
The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute
Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region of approximately 4,400 square kilometers in the Caucasus between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Relations between the two former Soviet countries have been tense since 1989 over Nagorno-Karabakh, or Upper Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan populated mostly by Armenians. In 1989, the parliament of Azerbaijan removed Nagorno-Karabakh's autonomous status, which had been in place since 1923. During the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Armenia began military operations into Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991. In the same year, the separatist administration in Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence. The Azeri people of the region had boycotted the independence referendum. The independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh republic, is not recognized by any United Nations member state, including Armenia. Four UN Security Council and two UN General Assembly resolutions as well as many international organizations demand the withdrawal of the occupying forces. The OSCE Minsk Group – co-chaired by France, Russia and the US – was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. A cease-fire was agreed upon in 1994. France, Russia and NATO, among others, have urged an immediate halt to clashes in the occupied region. During the conflict between 1988-1994, about one million people were displaced and 30,000 were killed. |
(PT/VK)
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