Armenia: politics and conflicts

[Carlin]

Wow. That's the background I need to know. Thanks!
As always, good info here!

No problem. Speaking of background information. Check this out.




Map of Kurdistansky Okrug (Red Kurdistan), 1930



Red Kurdistan (Kurdistansky Uyezd):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistansky_Uyezd

"The uyezd was established on 7 July 1923. The majority of Kurds in the region were Shia, unlike the Sunni Kurds of Nakhichevansky Uyezd and other areas of the Middle East. At the 1926 Soviet Census, the uyezd had a total population of 51,426 people, with ethnic Kurds constituting 72.3% or 37,182 people. According to the same census, 92.5% of the population of the uyezd cited the Azerbaijani language as their native tongue."



Mind. Blown.

[JPMKD]

Wow. It's Balkanic in it's interwoveness.


(Hey, I just invented 2 words according to spellcheck)


Also, does the name of that place loosely translate to "Fighting Mountains"?

[Carlin]

There are more ethnic Azeris in Iran than in Azerbaijan proper. Who knew.



URL:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Azerbaijanis

1) Rasmus Christian Elling. Minorities in Iran: Nationalism and Ethnicity after Khomeini Archived 2015-04-05 at the Wayback Machine. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Quote: "The number of Azeris in Iran is heavily disputed. In 2005, Amanolahi estimated all Turkic-speaking communities in Iran to number no more than 9 million. CIA and Library of congress estimates range from 16 percent to 24 percent – that is, 12–18 million people if we employ the latest total figure for Iran's population (77.8 million). Azeri ethnicsts, on the other hand, argue that overall number is much higher, even as much as 50 percent or more of the total population. Such inflated estimates may have influenced some Western scholars who suggest that up to 30 percent (that is, some 23 million today) Iranians are Azeris."

2) Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: S-Z. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 1765. ISBN 978-0-313-32384-3"Approximately (2002e) 18,500,000 Southern Azeris in Iran, concentrated in the northwestern provinces of East and West Azerbaijan. It is difficult to determine the exact number of Southern Azeris in Iran, as official statistics are not published detailing Iran's ethnic structure. Estimates of the Southern Azeri population range from as low as 12 million up to 40% of the population of Iran – that is, nearly 27 million..."

3) Ali Gheissari, "Contemporary Iran: Economy, Society, Politics: Economy, Society, Politics", Oxford University Press, 2 April 2009. pg 300. Azeri ethnonationalist activist, however, claim that number to be 24 million, hence as high as 35 percent of the Iranian population"

[Carlin]

- According to the 1960’s anecdote, Anastas Mikoyan once told Nikita Khruschev that “Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh want to unite with Armenia”. In response, Kruschev expressed his readiness to provide 12,000 trucks to transport Armenians from Azerbaijan to their “motherland”.

- BP (formerly The British Petroleum Company) expresses backing for Azerbaijan amid war for Karabakh, Azeri media reports, citing a letter from the regional rep to the prime minister. BP last week said it would start shipping Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe by year's end.



Azerbaijan says that it has captured all the territory on its Iranian border previously held by Armenians.

URL:

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/10/22/azerbaijan-claims-full-control-of-border-with-iran

Azerbaijan claims 'full control' of border with Iran as fighting with Armenia continues

Azerbaijan on Thursday said it had taken full control of its border with neighbouring Iran as Baku pressed its military operation in its conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan is controlled by Armenians, backed by Yerevan, who declared independence as the Soviet Union fell.

The conflict erupted again into full-scale fighting last month.

As well as Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian forces have also been in control of seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan, including a large swathe of the Azerbaijani border with Iran.

But President Ilham Aliyev said that with the capture of a settlement named Agbend, Baku now had full control of the border with Iran.

"The state border between Azerbaijan and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been completely secured through liberation of the Agbend settlement," he said on Twitter.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly boasted of military gains in the more than three weeks of fighting and on Wednesday Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan acknowledged his country was facing "a difficult situation" on the frontline.

Baku has never hidden its desire to regain full control over Karabakh and the seven surrounding districts. But analysts say it will struggle to achieve this by military means alone.

Yet diplomacy also appears exhausted for now, with Pashinyan ruling out any diplomatic solution to the conflict for the moment and both sides further entrenching in their positions.

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia are to meet separately with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on Friday.

Yet hopes of a genuine ceasefire are fragile after two truces agreed over the last fortnight never showed any semblance of holding on the ground.

Meanwhile, the toll continues to mount.

Yerevan says 874 Armenian soldiers and 36 civilians have been killed in the new round of fighting.

Baku has reported 63 civilian casualties but has yet to disclose military losses.

In an interview with AFP, the head of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) mission monitoring the conflict urged all parties to stop shelling civilians.

"We insist that the sides to the conflict comply with international humanitarian law," Gerardo Moloeznik said.

[Carlin]

"In Armenia, other minority groups inhabit the country: Molochans, Ukrainians, Georgians, Bielorussians, as well as heavily Russified communities of Vlachs, Mordvins, Ossetians, Armeno-Udis and Armeno-Tats."

THE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM AND THE POSITION OF ETHNIC MINORITES IN THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA - Page 23:

https://search.proquest.com/openview/114b400fc1382c2771866ad8fee8c5ef/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=4840101

[Liberator of Makedonija]

Vlachs in Armenia, who knew

[Soldier of Macedon]

Vlachs in Armenia, who knew

Russified Vlachs. Probably from the Wallachia region of Romania.

[Carlin]

Karabakh war appears to be over; Armenia has surrendered

https://www.google.com/amp/s/meduza.io/amp/en/feature/2020/11/10/a-difficult-surrender

[Carlin]

Angry Armenians storm Parliament

URL:

http://www.minareport.com/2020/11/10/angry-armenians-storm-soros-led-parliament-after-losing-40-of-nagorno-karabakh/

Crowds besieged the parliament and government offices in Yerevan after a peace deal with Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh was announced. The terms involve Armenia surrendering some territory it held.

Gunshots could be heard in the streets of the capital as angry protesters stormed the government building, looking for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the early hours of Tuesday, after he revealed the outline of a “painful” agreement to give up land in Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan in exchange for an end to the bloodshed.

Pashinyan’s whereabouts were unknown, at the time, but he was unharmed. Armenia’s parliament was apparently under the control of the protesters, for a time.

The speaker of the Armenian parliament, Ararat Mirzoyan, was reportedly beaten up during the fracas and is in a serious condition.

The armistice that came into effect at midnight on Tuesday local time seeks to end six weeks of fighting over the contested region, which has seen major Azerbaijani advances into the territory held by ethnic Armenians since 1994.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Karabakh war appears to be over; Armenia has surrendered

https://www.google.com/amp/s/meduza....cult-surrender

That is a significant development. Just some background on recent Armenian politics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Contract_(Armenia)

Following the 2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution led by Nikol Pashinyan, a new political alliance rose to prominence known as the My Step Alliance. After the 2018 Armenian parliamentary election, the My Step Alliance gained a ruling majority in the National Assembly.

No excuse for the corruption of the previous government, but these "colour revolution" leaders sure seem keen to negotiate on anything concerning their countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Armenian_revolution

A vote was scheduled in the National Assembly for 1 May; for Pashiniyan to be elected Prime Minister, which required 53 votes, he would have had to win the votes of at least six members of the Republican Party. Pashinyan was the only candidate who was put forward for the vote. However, the Republican Party unanimously voted against Pashinyan – 102 MPs were present, out of which 56 voted against his candidacy and 45 voted for it. One week later, on 8 May, the second vote took place. Pashinyan was elected Prime Minister with 59 votes.

Why does that sound familiar.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2...-in-socialism/

Armenia’s ‘Velvet Revolution’: A masterclass in socialism

Nikol Pashinyan, the opposition leader who rose to iconic stature, has emphasised throughout that this movement is solely an internal, Armenian matter. Although there is certainly a strong element of national pride in the “Velvet Revolution,” there can be no doubt that this is also a masterclass in democratic socialist principles: Healthier institutions, less corruption, fair pay, more regulation, better education, advancement for all.

A shame that many politicians from either side of the spectrum don't fight for both the betterment of society and the preservation of national dignity.

[Carlin]

That is a significant development. Just some background on recent Armenian politics.

No excuse for the corruption of the previous government, but these "colour revolution" leaders sure seem keen to negotiate on anything concerning their countries.

Why does that sound familiar.

A shame that many politicians from either side of the spectrum don't fight for both the betterment of society and the preservation of national dignity.

The only thing I knew about Pashinyan is that he was described as an Armenian nationalist in most international outlets. Very interesting background though.


Nagorno-Karabakh: Villagers burn their homes ahead of peace deal

Residents of Kalbajar district raze properties before deadline for disputed territory is returned to Azerbaijan

URL:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/14/nagorno-karabakh-villagers-burn-their-homes-ahead-of-peace-deal

Villagers outside Nagorno-Karabakh set their homes on fire Saturday before fleeing to Armenia ahead of a weekend deadline that will see some disputed territory handed over to Azerbaijan as part of a peace agreement.

Residents of the Kalbajar district in Azerbaijan, which has been controlled by Armenian separatists for decades, began a mass exodus this week after it was announced that Azerbaijan would regain control on Sunday.

Fighting between the separatists backed by Armenian troops and the Azerbaijan army erupted over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region in late September and raged for six weeks.

Armenia said Saturday that 2,317 of its fighters were killed in the clashes, an increase of nearly 1,000 deaths from its previous official toll. Azerbaijan has not revealed its military casualties.

But the Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Friday the number killed in the conflict was higher than 4,000 and that tens of thousands of people had been forced to flee their homes.

In the Kalbajar village of Charektar, on the border with the district of Martakert which will remain under Armenian control, at least six houses were on fire on Saturday morning, with thick plumes of smoke rising over the valley, according to an AFP journalist.

“This is my house, I can’t leave it to the Turks,” as Azerbaijanis are often called by Armenians, one resident said as he threw burning wooden planks and rags soaked in gasoline into an empty house.

“Everybody is going to burn down their house today ... we were given until midnight to leave,” he said.

“We also moved our parents’ graves, the Azerbaijanis will take great pleasure in desecrating our graves. It’s unbearable.”

On Friday at least 10 houses were burned in and around Charektar.

Kalbajar was almost exclusively populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis before they were expelled by Armenians in a 1990s war between the two countries following the break up of the Soviet Union, and a majority of the homes being burned previously belonged to Azerbaijanis.

Armenia’s government controversially subsidised the region’s settlement by ethnic Armenians.

The ex-Soviet rivals agreed to end hostilities earlier this week after previous efforts by Russia, France and the United States to get a ceasefire fell through.

A key part of the peace deal includes Armenia returning Kalbajar and the Aghdam district by 20 November, as well as the Lachin district by 1 December, all of which have been held by Armenians since the devastating 1990s war left 30,000 people dead.

After weeks of intense fighting, the two sides will maintain positions in the territories they currently hold – a significant gain for Azerbaijan, which has reclaimed around 15 to 20% of its lost territory including the key town of Shusha.

Russian peacekeepers began deploying to Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday as part of the terms of the accord and took control of a key transport artery connecting Armenia to the disputed territory.

Russian military officials said the mission consisting of nearly 2,000 troops would put in place 16 observation posts in mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor.

The Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev has accused Armenians of destroying “99% of the liberated territory” including hospitals, houses and monuments, adding that he wants Armenia to pay compensation.

Meanwhile in Armenia, anger has been mounting over the prime minister Nikol Pashinyan’s decision to cede swathes of territory.

The former head of Armenia’s national security service, Artur Vanetsyan, was arrested on Saturday on charges of plotting to kill Pashinyan and seize power.

Vanetsyan’s lawyers described the arrest as a “shameful persecution of opponents”.

Thousands of people converged on the streets of the capital Yerevan in demonstrations this week, while protesters stormed and ransacked government buildings, demanding Pashinyan’s resignation.

On Saturday, crowds gathered on Yerevan’s Liberty Square, where they lit candles in memory of soldiers killed in the fighting.

They then marched silently through the streets towards the Matenadaran museum of ancient manuscripts where priests held a requiem service.

[Soldier of Macedon]

This may lead to some interesting developments. Turkey and the U.S. are supposed to be NATO allies, yet their attitude towards Armenia couldn't be any more different. Armenia, for its part, has relatively good relations with Russia. Despite the relations that have grown between Russia and Turkey over the last few years, there are still a number of areas where they disagree, and lately, Turkey has been making statements with regard to the Ukrainian conflict that have upset Russia. But this announcement by Biden may push Turkey further away from NATO and back towards Russia.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/...enian-genocide

Joe Biden has become the first United States president to recognise as an act of “genocide” the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. In a statement on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day on Saturday, Biden said: “Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring. “The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today,” his statement reads.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry rejected and denounced Biden’s statement “in the strongest terms”. “This statement of the US, which distorts the historical facts, will never be accepted in the conscience of the Turkish people, and will open a deep wound that undermines our mutual trust and friendship,” the ministry said. “We call on the US president to correct this grave mistake.” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the US statement was “based solely on populism”, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused “third parties” of seeking to politicise the debate. “The politicisation of the discussions that should be held by historians and used as a tool of intervention against our country by third parties has benefited no one,” Erdogan said in a letter to the Armenian patriarch in Istanbul.

In a letter to Biden, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Armenians around the world welcomed his statement. “I highly appreciate your principled position, which is a powerful step on the way to acknowledging the truth, historical justice, and an invaluable of support for the descendants of the victims of the Armenian Genocide,” Pashinyan wrote. Pashinyan also tweeted that it was “an important day for all Armenians”. Armenian President Armen Sirkissian also said the recognition “opens new prospects for US-Armenian relations”.

The foreign ministry of Azerbaijan, which fought Armenian forces in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region last year, called Biden’s statement “unfortunate” and said it “distorted the historical facts” of what occurred. “Those who politicise the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ are silent on the massacre of more than 500,000 people by Armenian armed groups at that time,” the ministry said. In a phone call with Erdogan on Saturday, the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, called the US statement “a historic mistake”.

Garo Paylan, Armenian MP in Turkish parliament “When Turkey confronts the Armenian genocide, it will no longer matter what other countries or parliaments have to say,” Paylan said. “We need to bring the pain of the Armenian people, to the land where it belongs, to Turkey. We have to face the pain of the Armenian people and we must relieve this pain through justice. The Armenian people are waiting for justice.”

Pelosi, the Democratic House majority leader, said “our hearts are full of joy that President Biden has taken the historic step” of recognising the killings as an act of genocide. “To commemorate this solemn day of remembrance, let us pledge to always stand strong against hatred and violence wherever we see it and recommit to building a future of hope, peace and freedom for all the world’s children,” she said in a statement.

[Carlin]

Russian defence ministry says Azeri armed forces have broken the trilateral agreement and entered Russian peacekeepers’ zone of responsibility in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The Russian defence ministry also accused Azerbaijani troops of using Turkish-made drones to strike Karabakh troops, while the foreign ministry in Moscow expressed “extreme concern” over the spiralling tensions in the region".

[Carlin]

"The command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, together with representatives of the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides, are taking measures to stabilize the situation"

"Iran is moving army units to the border with Azerbaijan amid the current escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is hard to verify but this is the video that circulates for now in some Iranian Telegram channels"

https://mobile.twitter.com/AZmilitary1/status/1554880888458076163?cxt=HHwWhoCzicL7hZQrAAAA

[Carlin]

Azerbaijan launches attacks along Armenian border

https://oc-media.org/azerbaijan-launches-attacks-along-armenian-border/

https://mobile.twitter.com/AZmilitary1/status/1569445621375053826?cxt=HHwWhMDRxcae5ccrAAAA