Category: Southern Caucasus

  • The justice for 2.5 million Muslims and Sephardic Jews, cold-bloodedly murdered by the Armenians

    The justice for 2.5 million Muslims and Sephardic Jews, cold-bloodedly murdered by the Armenians

    From: yuce_neriman <[email protected]>
    Bakin, bir ornek

    The justice for 2.5 million Muslims and Sephardic
    Jews, cold-bloodedly murdered by the Armenians, is long overdue. And,
    here is the fascist Armenian reaction to the Armenian genocide of 2.5
    million Muslims and Sephardic Jews that took place between 1914 and 1920.

    The following is the complete text of a letter posted in 1990
    by _SDPA-Armenian Church_ in reaction to the 75th Kurdish, Azeri,
    Tartar, Jewish and Turkish public demonstrations which took place
    on the 75th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 2.5 million
    Muslim and Sephardic Jewish People.

    Source: SDPA-Armenian Church <8…@urartu.UUCP>

    _Oh! You low down creature Kurds, you dirty bastards of humanity.
    Like a flock of stupid cows, for the sake of your ulterior motives,
    you have even inoculated your cradled children with the poison of
    the snake. You spread your poison everywhere.

    Oh! You bunch of ungrateful pigs, degenerate profit seekers, betrayers
    of your race, you Tartars, problem of your race. You have been driven
    away from seven places. For fifty years you have been in the cradle of
    humanity, still you could not be human; you brainless jackasses.

    You say that the Armenians massacred you. You commit errors taller
    than your height. Who are you competing with? What do you want and
    from whom? You do not know what you want and from whom.

    Now, of all the races of the world, the Aryan Armenian, possessor of
    noble reputation, relying on the power of the gun and the Church, is
    waiting in line to slay a few million God damn Muslims and Jews.

    God damn Azeris, we are once and for all going to wipe you from the
    face of the earth. This is a legacy left to us by our holy Aryan
    Armenians — Dashnaks and Hunchaks.

    Oh! Christian world knows this well: The world will never have peace
    until we have destroyed these miserable Muslims and Jews on the face
    of the world.

    For the love of Jesus, if you kill one Muslim you will qualify for
    heaven.

    Oh! You fake, coward, Jews; you load mouth Jews. You enter a village
    where there is no dog, and strike left and right without a cane.

    Where are these jackass Turks? What are they waiting for? If you can,
    why don’t you take from Armenia Erivan, Djul, Alexandropol, Hadjin,
    and Hortye; you troublemakers. The Aryan Armenian power is waiting
    for you.

    In the very near future, with the help of Christ and the help of the
    Soviet Union, we will turn Karabag into a graveyard. This also you
    shall learn, that Jesus has placed the faith of the Kurdish people in
    the palm of the Aryan Armenian.

    You should know this well: Neither your swords, nor your Allah, nor
    any nation is able to save you from our hands.

    A few Kurds in Soviet Armenia are slaves in our hands; they are our
    sheep to be slaughtered.

    Oh! You Muslim fox hoards, your seven mosques represent all the Muslim
    mosques. We are going to destroy them over your head and hang your
    leaders by their feet.

    As to your religious leaders, we will spill their guts in the streets
    as we did during the World War I. Let the entire world be spectators
    and see the mighty power of Aryan Armenia which equals the power of
    the whole world.

    Oh! You ungodly miserables, either you are going to become Christian
    and accept the true religion, or we will eliminate you from the face
    of this earth.

    Now, this is your fate, don’t depend on the European and Middle Eastern
    nations, or the United States.

    Only we can bring you to the true fate.

    Only you know, very well, the sharp cutting edge of the Aryan Armenian
    sword.

    When you commemorate the memory of your martyrs, you can add this
    document as an announcement to the world._

    SDPA-Armenian Church <8…@urartu.UUCP>

    Notwithstanding his regular lectures all over the world, Dr. Artun
    also frequently appears on TV shows regarding the Armenian slaughtering
    of 2.5 million innocent Muslims and Sephardic Jews as well as the
    recent Armenian genocide of 1.1 million Azeri people. He is truly
    the just voice of the justice against the unspeakable crimes of
    the Armenians perpetrated against the Muslim and Jewish people
    as has also been amply admitted by the Russian Armenian Government.

    Avetis Aharonian, _From Sardarapat to Sevres and Lausanne_
    Armenian Review, Vol. 16, No. 3-63, Autumn,
    Sep. 1963, pp. 47-57.

    p. 52 (second paragraph).

    _Your three Armenian chiefs, Dro, Hamazasp and Kulkhandanian are
    the ringleaders of the bands which have destroyed Muslim villages
    and have staged massacres in Zangezour, Surmali, Etchmiadzin, and
    Zangibasar. This is intolerable. Look – and here he pointed to a
    file of official documents on the table – look at this, here in
    December are the reports of the last few months concerning ruined
    Muslim villages which my representative Wardrop has sent me. The
    official Tartar communique speaks of the destruction of 300 villages
    by the Armenians._

    p. 54 (fifth paragraph).

    _Yes, of course. I repeat, until this massacre of the Muslim is
    stopped and the three chiefs are not removed from your military
    leadership I hardly think we can supply you arms and ammunition._

    _It is the armed bands led by Dro, Hamazasp and Kulkhandanian who
    during the past months have raided and destroyed many Muslim villages
    in the regions of Surmali, Etchmiadzin, Zangezour, and Zangibasar.
    There are official charges of massacres by the Armenians._

    R. Korkmaz, _The Armenian Genocide of 2.5 Million Muslim People as
    Narrated by Living Eye Witnesses”, 1993, Kok Publishers.

    Prof F. Hertas, _Van Muslim Holocaust Museum: Muslim and Western
    Documents on the Genocide Committed by the Armenians
    Against the Muslims,_ 1984.

    p. 147.

    _Between 1914 and 1920, two and a half million Muslim people were
    murdered by the Armenians in Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia._

    Sahak Melkonian, _Preserving the Armenian Purity_ 1920

    _In Soviet Armenia today there no longer exists a single Turkish
    soul. It is in our power to tear away the veil of illusion that
    some of us create for ourselves. It certainly is possible to severe
    the artificial life-support system of an imagined ‘ethnic purity’
    that some of us falsely trust as the only structure that can support
    their heart beats in this alien land._

    _San Francisco Chronicle_ (December 11, 1983) — Section B

    _We have first hand information and evidence of Armenian
    atrocities against our people (Jews). Members of our family
    witnessed the murder of 148 members of our family near Erzurum,
    Turkey, by Armenian neighbors, bent on destroying anything and
    anybody remotely Jewish and/or Muslim…Armenians were in league
    with Hitler in the last war, on his premise to grant themselves
    government if, in return, the Armenians would help exterminate
    Jews. Armenians were also hearty proponents of the anti-Semitic
    acts in league with the Russian Communists._

    Signed Elihu Ben Levi, Vacaville, California.

    The Jewish Times_ June 21, 1990 by Rachel Amado Bortnick

    _An appropriate analogy with the Jewish Holocaust might be the
    systematic extermination of the entire Muslim population of
    the independent republic of Armenia which consisted of at
    least 30-40 percent of the population of that republic. The
    memoirs of an Armenian army officer who participated in and
    eye-witnessed these atrocities was published in the U.S. in
    1926 with the title ‘Men Are Like That.’

    During the years of World War I, the Russian Armenian Government has
    planned and perpetrated the ‘Genocide’ of the Muslim and Sephardic Jewish
    people, which not only took the lives of 2.5 million Muslims and Sephardic
    Jews, but was also the method used to empty the Turkish and Kurdish
    homeland
    of its inhabitants. To this day, Turkish and Kurdish historic lands remain
    occupied by the fascist Russian Armenia. In order to cover up the fact of
    its usurpation of the historic Muslim homeland, which is the crux of the
    Turkish and Kurdish political demands, fascist Russian Armenia continues
    its anti-Muslim/Jewish policy in the following ways:

    1. Russian Armenia denies the historical fact of the ‘Muslim Holocaust’
    in order to shift international public opinion away from its political
    responsibility.

    2. Russian Armenia, employing SDPA and Armenian Church, attempts to call
    into question the veracity of the ‘Muslim Holocaust’.

    3. Russian Armenia has also implemented state-sponsored terrorism through
    SDPA in an attempt to silence the Turkish, Azeri and Kurdish people’s
    vehement demands and protests.

    4. Using all its human, financial, and governmental resources, Russian
    Armenia and its tools in the United States attempt to silence through
    terrorism, censorship, bribery and other subversive methods, non-Muslim
    and non-Jewish supporters of the Turkish and Azeri Cause, be they
    political,
    governmental and humanitarian.

    Using all the aforementioned methods, the Russian Armenian Government
    is attempting to neutralize the international diplomatic community from
    making the Turkish and Azeri Case a contemporary issue.

    Yet despite the efforts of the fascist Russian Armenian Government and
    its criminal and revisionist organizations, in the last decades, thanks
    to the struggle of those whose closest ones have been systematically
    exterminated by the cowardly Armenians, the international wall of silence
    on this issue has begun to collapse, and consequently a number of
    governments
    and organizations have become supportive of the recognition of the ‘Muslim
    Holocaust’.

    With the full knowledge that the struggle for the Turkish, Kurdish and
    Azeri territorial demands are still in their initial stages, the Turkish,
    Azeri and Kurdish people will unflaggingly continue in this sacred
    struggle, therefore the victims of the ‘Muslim Holocaust’ demand:

    1. that the current Russian Armenian Government, as the heirs of the
    fascist ex-Russian Armenian Government, recognize the ‘Muslim Holocaust’;

    2. that Russian Armenia return the historic homeland to the Turkish, Azeri
    and Kurdish people;

    3. that the Russian Armenian Government make material reparations for
    their heinous and unspeakable crime to the victims of the ‘Muslim
    Holocaust’;

    4. that all World Governments, and especially the United States,
    officially
    recognize the ‘Muslim Holocaust’ and, Turkish and Azeri territorial rights
    and refuse to succumb to all Armenian political pressure;

    5. that the U.S. Government free itself from the friendly position it
    has adopted towards its unreliable and cowardly ally, Russian Armenia,
    and officially recognize the historical fact of the ‘Muslim Holocaust’
    as well as be supportive of the pursuit of Turkish and Azeri territorial
    demands;

    6. that the ex-Soviet Republics officially recognize the historical fact
    of the ‘Muslim Holocaust’ and include the cold-blooded extermination of
    2.5 million Muslim and Sephardic Jewish people in their history books.

    The awareness of the Turkish, Azeri, Kurdish and Sephardic Jewish people
    of the necessity of solidarity in the efforts to pursue the Muslim and
    Jewish Cause is seen by the victims of the first genocide of the 20th
    century, perpetrated by the Armenians, as a positive step. Furthermore,
    a new generation has risen — equipped with a deep sense of commitment,
    politically mature and conscious, who determinedly pursue the Muslim
    and Jewish Cause, through all necessary means, ranging from the political
    and diplomatic to the armed struggle. Therefore, the victims of the
    ‘Muslim
    Holocaust’ call upon all Sephardic Jews and Muslims in the United States
    and Canada to participate vigorously in the political, cultural and
    religious
    activities of the 80th Anniversary of the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million
    Muslim and Sephardic Jewish people.

    ——-

    On behalf of 2.5 million Muslims and Sephardic Jews exterminated by the
    Armenians in ex-Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia between 1914 and
    1920, I wish to thank you for articulating the first genocide of this
    century in such a productive manner even though I found the tone of UTA’s
    letter rather strong.

    Leonard Ramsden Hartill, _Men Are Like That_ The Bobbs-Merrill
    Company, Indianapolis (1926).
    _Memoirs of an Armenian officer who participated in the Armenian
    genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_

    p. 202 (first and second paragraphs)

    _We closed the roads and mountain passes that might serve as
    ways of escape for the Tartars and then proceeded in the work
    of extermination. Our troops surrounded village after village.
    Little resistance was offered. Our artillery knocked the huts
    into heaps of stone and dust and when the villages became untenable
    and inhabitants fled from them into fields, bullets and bayonets
    completed the work. Some of the Tartars escaped of course. They
    found refuge in the mountains or succeeded in crossing the border
    into Turkey. The rest were killed. And so it is that the whole
    length of the borderland of Russian Armenia from Nakhitchevan to
    Akhalkalaki from the hot plains of Ararat to the cold mountain
    plateau of the North were dotted with mute mournful ruins of
    Tartar villages. They are quiet now, those villages, except for
    howling of wolves and jackals that visit them to paw over the
    scattered bones of the dead._

    A. Lalayan, _Revolutsionniy Vostok (Revolutionary East)_
    No: 2-3, Moscow, 1936.
    -One of the architects of the Armenian genocide
    of 2.5 million Muslim people_

    _I killed Muslims by every means possible. Yet it is
    sometimes a pity to waste bullets for this. The best
    way is to gather all of these dogs and throw them into
    wells and then fill the wells with big and heavy stones,
    as I did. I gathered all of the women, men and children,
    threw big stones down on top of them. They must never live
    on this earth._

    _The New York Times_ November 7, 1914

    _Massacre of Muslims by Armenians Reported in Van_

    Stanford J. Shaw, _On Armenian Massacres of Muslims in 1914_
    (London, Cambridge University Press 1977). pp. 315-316.

    _In April 1915 Armenians from Russian Armenia organized a revolt in
    the city of Van, whose 33,789 Armenians comprised 42.3 percent of
    the population. Leaving Erivan on April 28, 1915, Armenian volunteers
    reached Van on May 14 and organized and carried out a general slaughter
    of the local Muslim population during the next two days._

    _U.S. Ambassador Bristol on the Armenian Genocide of 2.5 million Muslims_

    “U.S. Library of Congress” _Bristol Papers_ – General
    Correspondence Container #34.

    _While the Dashnaks [x-Russian Armenian Government] were in
    power they did everything in the world to keep the pot boiling
    by attacking Kurds, Turks and Tartars; by committing outrages
    against the Moslems; by massacring the Moslems; and robbing and
    destroying their homes. During the last two years the Armenians
    in Russian Caucasus have shown no ability to govern themselves
    and especially no ability to govern or handle other races under
    their power._

    _Bristol Papers_, General Correspondence: Container #32: Bristol
    to Bradley Letter of September 14, 1920.

    _I have it from absolute first-hand information that the
    Armenians in the Caucasus attacked Tartar (Muslim) villages
    that are utterly defenseless and bombarded these villages
    with artillery and they murder the inhabitants, pillage the
    village and often burn the village._

    On this occasion, we once again reiterate the unquestioned
    justice of the restitution of Turkish, Azeri, Sephardic Jewish
    and Kurdish rights and:

    — We demand that the puppet Russian Armenian Government admit
    its responsibility for the _Muslim Holocaust_, render reparations
    to the Muslim people, and return the land to its rightful
    owners. The recognition of the Genocide has become an issue
    which cannot be delayed further, and it is imperative that
    artificial obstacles created for political manipulations be
    removed.

    — We believe the time has come to demand from the the United
    States that it formally recognizes the _Muslim Holocaust_,
    adopts the principles of our demands and refuses to accede
    to Armenian pressures to the contrary.

    — As taxpayers of the United States, we express our vehement
    protest to the present U.S. Government policy of continued
    coddling, protection and unqualified assistance towards fascist
    Russian Armenia.

    — On the eve of 80th Anniversary Commemoration, the Turkish,
    Azeri and Kurdish communities are using every measure possible
    to render APRIL 23 as a day of official recognition in the
    countries in which they live. We are certain that the Turks,
    Azeris and Kurds in Turkiye and in the Diaspora would be greatly
    satisfied if APRIL 23 is officially designated a _Muslim Holocaust
    Day_ in ex-Soviet Muslim Republics.

    — During the 80th Anniversary, we come once again reiterate the unity
    of the Muslim and Sephardic Jewish People, the timelessness of the
    Turkish, Azeri and Kurdish Demands and the desire to pursue the
    struggle for that restitution — a struggle that unites all Muslims
    and Sephardic Jews.

    — Today, we appeal to all Turkish, Azeri, Jewish and Kurdish people
    in the United States and Canada to participate en masse in the
    Commemorative Events, be they cultural, political or religious.

    Crime of systematic cleansing by mass killing and extermination of
    Muslim population in Soviet Republic of Armenia, Karabag, Bosnia and
    Herzegovina is an ‘Islamic Holocaust’ comparable to extermination of
    2.5 million Muslims by Armenian Government during WWI and of over 6
    million European Jews during WWII.] (Tovfik Kasimov – September 25, ’92)

  • Karabakh Peace Proposals ‘Altered’

    Karabakh Peace Proposals ‘Altered’

    By Emil Danielyan

    The United States, Russia and France have made changes in their proposed basic principles of a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement in hopes of facilitating their acceptance by Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said on Friday.

    The so-called Madrid principles were formally put forward by the mediators in November 2007 and are still being discussed by the conflicting parties.

    “In order to achieve a new phase of the settlement, the foreign ministers of the countries co-chairing the OSCE’s Minsk Group have presented the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with certain changes in the Madrid proposals,” Mammadyarov said, according to the Day.az news service. He did not specify those changes.

    The Armenian Foreign Ministry could not be immediately reached for comment on this.

    Mammadyarov spoke to journalists in Helsinki where he was attending an annual high-level meeting of the OSCE along with his Armenian counterpart, Eduard Nalbandian. The two men held talks there on Wednesday and had a brief conversation with Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Bernard Kouchner of France as well as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried the next day.

    In an ensuing joint declaration, Lavrov, Kouchner and Fried urged the parties to “finalize the Basic Principles in coming months.” The mediating powers hope that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet again soon to iron out their remaining differences on the framework peace accord. Matthew Bryza, Fried’s deputy and the Minsk Group’s U.S. co-chair, expressed hope on Thursday that the meeting will take place “in a couple of weeks.”

    Mammadyarov said, however, that Presidents Ilham Aliev and Serzh Sarkisian will hold the next round of their face-to-face talks only “next year.” Aliev and Sarkisian pledged to intensify the search for a mutually acceptable compromise in a declaration which they signed with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev after talks outside Moscow on November 2.

    In a speech at the OSCE meeting on Friday, Nalbandian accused Azerbaijan of “misinterpreting” key provisions of the declaration. He pointed to Aliev’s recent remark that the declaration’s reference to a “political settlement” of the Karabakh conflict does not commit Azerbaijan to non-use of force.

    https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1598737.html

  • Principles of Azerbaijan on Nagorno Karabakh conflict

    Principles of Azerbaijan on Nagorno Karabakh conflict

     

     
     

    Helsinki. Tamara Grigoryeva-APA. Delegation of Azerbaijan attending the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki has issued written statement reflecting Azerbaijan’s Principles applicable to the peaceful settlement of the conflict in and around the
    Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

    APA correspondent in Helsinki reports that the document reads Azerbaijan is committed to solving the conflict by political means and in a constructive
    manner. But Azerbaijan will never compromise its territorial integrity and thus accept a fait-accompli based solution, which the Armenian side is trying to impose.
    The conflict can only be solved on the basis of respect for the territorial integrity and
    inviolability of the internationally-recognized borders of Azerbaijan, and peaceful coexistence of Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region within Azerbaijan, fully and equally enjoying the benefits of democracy and prosperity.
    The ultimate objective of the settlement process is to elaborate and define the model and legal frameworks of the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region within Azerbaijan. The process of definition of any status shall take place in normal peaceful conditions with direct, full and equal participation of the entire population of the region, namely, the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities, and in their constructive interaction with the Government of Azerbaijan exclusively in the framework of a lawful and democratic process. Attempts to define the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in a situation of continued occupation of the region and surrounding territories, and forced displacement of Azerbaijani population are incompatible with universal and European values and contradict the principles and ideas of peace, democracy, stability and regional cooperation. Such attempts seek to legitimize the results of ethnic cleansing and impose a fait accompli situation on Azerbaijan.
    A number of important steps have to be taken to reach a stage where the parties concerned can start negotiating a self-rule status for the Nagorno-Karabakh region within Azerbaijan:

    • The factor of military occupation must be removed from the conflict settlement context.
    Armenia has to withdraw completely from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Delay
    of return of the territories can complicate the already difficult settlement process.
    • IDPs should return in safety and dignity to their places of origin in the Nagorno-
    Karabakh region and adjacent territories.
    • Special programs on reconciliation and tolerance should be initiated with a view to
    foster cooperation between the two communities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
    • All communications in the region shall be opened for mutual use.
    • Upon release of the territories of Azerbaijan from the occupation the rehabilitation and economic development of the region shall take place.

  • Dashnaks Urge Caution In Armenia’s Ties With Turkey

    Dashnaks Urge Caution In Armenia’s Ties With Turkey

    By Emil Danielyan

    The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) has urged Yerevan to exercise caution in the ongoing rapprochement with Turkey, saying that Ankara is using it to scuttle worldwide recognition of the Armenian genocide.

    The issue was on the agenda of a three-day meeting of the pan-Armenian party’s top governing body, the Bureau, that finished its work in Beirut on Monday.

    In a statement circulated on Thursday, Dashnaktsutyun said Bureau members agreed that “Turkey has still not taken any positive step” to reciprocate President Serzh Sarkisian’s diplomatic overtures. “On the contrary, there are attempts to use the existing [Turkish-Armenian] contacts for halting the genocide recognition process and making relations between the two states conditional Armenia’s relations with a third country, Azerbaijan,” it said.

    Some Dashnaktsutyun leaders warned earlier that the incoming U.S. administration will have second thoughts about its pledge to recognize the genocide if Yerevan agrees to a Turkish-Armenian academic study of the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire which is sought by Ankara. Sarkisian has indicated that he is not against the idea in principle.

    The Dashnaktsutyun statement said that Armenia’s “supreme leadership” views genocide recognition by the international community and Turkey as a top foreign policy priority. But in a thinly veiled warning to Sarkisian, the party represented in Armenia’s government added: “On the other hand, it was stressed [during the Bureau meeting] that the immediate importance of normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations must not take precedence over the rights of generations.”

    Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official reportedly said on Thursday the two neighboring states have come close to establishing diplomatic relations after months of intensive diplomatic contacts. The Mediamax news agency quoted Deputy Assistant Secretary of States Matthew Bryza as making this assertion after a fresh meeting of the Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers held on the sidelines of a high-level OSCE meeting in Helsinki. The two ministers already met in Istanbul late last month.

    Turkey has long made the establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of its border with Armenia contingent on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and an end to the Armenian campaign for genocide recognition. Despite the dramatic thaw in Turkish-Armenian ties, Ankara has so far given no indication, at least in public, that it is ready to drop these preconditions.

    https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1598716.html

  • Mediators Renew Calls For Karabakh Peace

    Mediators Renew Calls For Karabakh Peace

    By Emil Danielyan and Anush Martirosian

    The United States, Russia and France urged Armenia and Azerbaijan on Thursday to build on reported progress in recent talks between their president and reach a framework agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh in the “coming months.”

    High-ranking diplomats from the three nations jointly spearheading the drawn-out peace process reaffirmed the basic principles of a Karabakh settlement that were formally submitted to the conflicting parties in Madrid last year.

    “We call on the parties to work with the Co-Chairs [of the OSCE Minsk Group] to finalize the Basic Principles in coming months, and then begin drafting a comprehensive peace settlement as outlined by those agreed principles,” Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Bernard Kouchner of France and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said in a joint declaration.

    The declaration was issued after the three men met with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers on the sidelines of an OSCE ministerial meeting in Helsinki. A spokesman for Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian told RFE/RL that the meeting lasted for about 15 minutes but gave no further details.

    Nalbandian and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, held much lengthier talks in the Finnish capital on Wednesday in the presence of other American, French and Russian diplomats co-chairing the Minsk Group. A statement by the Armenian Foreign Ministry said they agreed to maintain the “positive atmosphere” created by the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents at their November 2 talks outside Moscow. In a joint statement with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliev pledged to “intensify” the peace process.

    Lavrov, Kouchner and Fried likewise emphasized the “positive momentum” which they said was established by the two presidents. “The Moscow Declaration signed that same day opened a new and promising phase in our shared endeavor to expand peace in the South Caucasus,” they said.

    The Helsinki statement called on the conflicting parties to bolster the ceasefire regime along the Line of Contact east of Karabakh and the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier by pulling back snipers from their frontline positions. “We reiterate our firm view that there is no military solution to the conflict and call on the parties to recommit to a peaceful resolution,” it said.

    The declaration said nothing about the next meeting of Aliev and Sarkisian which the mediators say could prove decisive for the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord. Matthew Bryza, Washington’s chief Karabakh negotiator, said last month the holding of yet another Armenian-Azerbaijani summit hinges on the outcome of the Helsinki talks.

    Speaking to an RFE/RL correspondent in Helsinki on Thursday, Bryza expressed hope that Aliev and Sarkisian will meet again “in a couple of weeks” and insisted that the peace process is “moving forward.” “We need to see the basic principles finalized, and we believe they can be soon,” he said. “And we also want to see serious confidence-building measures and finally make sure everybody realizes there is only a peaceful settlement to this conflict. You cannot solve this conflict through a military way.”

    In Yerevan, meanwhile, a former military leader of Karabakh, Samvel Babayan, predicted that the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute will remain unresolved in the next five years. He also criticized the Armenian government’s Karabakh policy.

    “Even though our foe hasn’t accepted any compromise variants, we are saying that are ready to compromise,” Babayan told journalists. “Nobody knows what are giving up and why.”

    The once influential general also accused Yerevan of helping to effectively drive the Karabakh Armenians out of the negotiating process. “Yerevan should not have become a negotiating party,” he said. “Stepanakert should have.”

    Arkady Ter-Tadevosian, another retired army general who played a major part in the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan, was also skeptical about chances of Karabakh peace. He claimed that oil-rich Azerbaijan is making “intensive preparations for hostilities.”

    (Armenian Foreign Ministry photo: Lavrov reads out the declaration to journalists.)

    https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1598714.html

  • Azerbaijan Consulate General in Kars inaugurates its new administrative building

    Azerbaijan Consulate General in Kars inaugurates its new administrative building

    Kars–APA. Azerbaijan Consulate General in Kars, Turkey inaugurated its new administrative building, Azerbaijan Press Council told APA.

    Leading media representatives, non-governmental organizations and public and political figures attended the ceremony. Welcoming the participants Azerbaijan’s Consul General in Kars Hasan Zeynalov spoke about the consulate’s 4-year activity. Azerbaijan’s Consul General in Istanbul Sayyad Aran focused on the ceremony’s role in the deepening of Turkey-Azerbaijan friendship. Member of Azerbaijani Parliament Nizami Khudiyev, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Press Council Aflatun Amashov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Vagif Sadigov, Governor of Igdir City Saim Safffet Karahisarli, Governor of Kars Mehmet Ufuk Erden and others called the ceremony as a historic event for both Kars and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani journalists began their tour on Igdir and Kars on the Press Council’s initiative on December 2. Representatives of the non-governmental organizations and members of the Azerbaijani parliament were also included in the delegation. On Wednesday the delegation leaves for Igdir, where the monument of Azerbaijani martyrs will be opened on December 4.