Day: October 2, 2023

Azerbaijani police arrested one of Harutyunyan’s former prime ministers, Ruben Vardanyan, on Wednesday as he tried to cross into Armenia along with tens of thousands of others who have fled following Baku’s 24-hour blitz last week to reclaim control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Harutyunyan and the enclave’s former military commander, Jalal Harutyunyan, are accused of firing missiles on Azerbaijan’s third-largest city, Ganja, during a 44-day war in late 2020, local media reported. The clash between the Azerbaijani military clash and Nagorno Karabakh forces led to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region.

The arrest warrant announcement by Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev reflects Azerbaijan’s intention to quickly and forcefully enforce its grip on the region following three decades of conflict with the separatist state.

While Baku has pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, many have fled due to fear of reprisals or losing the freedom to use their language and to practice their religion and cultural customs.

In a briefing Sunday, Armenia’s presidential press secretary, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, said that 100,483 people had already arrived in Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, which had a population of about 120,000 before Azerbaijan’s offensive.

Some people lined up for days to escape the region because the only route to Armenia — a winding mountain road — became jammed with slow-moving vehicles.

A United Nations delegation arrived in Nagorno-Karabakh Sunday to monitor the situation. The mission is the organization’s first to the region for three decades, due to the “very complicated and delicate geopolitical situation” there, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters Friday.

Local officials dismissed the visit as a formality. Hunan Tadevosyan, spokesperson for Nagorno-Karabakh’s emergency services, said the U.N. representatives had come too late and the number of civilians left in the regional capital of Stepanakert could be “counted on one hand.”

“I did the volunteer work. The people who were left sheltering in the basements, even people who were mentally unwell and did not understand what was happening, I put them on buses with my own hands and we took them out of Stepanakert,” Tadevosyan told Armenian outlet News.am.

“We walked around the whole city but found no one. There is no general population left,” he said.

Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan said some people, including older adults, had died while on the road to Armenia as they were “exhausted due to malnutrition, left without even taking medicine with them, and were on the road for more than 40 hours.”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan alleged Thursday that the exodus of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh amounted to “a direct act of an ethnic cleansing and depriving people of their motherland.”

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry strongly rejected Pashinyan’s accusations, saying the departure of Armenians was “their personal and individual decision and has nothing to do with forced relocation.”

In Athens, Greece, several hundred Armenians gathered Sunday evening outside the Greek Parliament to protest the upcoming dissolution of Nagorno Karabakh – or Artsakh, as they called it in the banners they carried, in Greek and English. They then marched to the European Union offices, a few blocks away. The protest was peaceful.

Associated Press writer Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.

Allegations made publicly today against one of our assistance projects are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the goals of our assistance to Georgia.  USAID has been supporting the Georgian people since 1992.  As always, our assistance is transparent, and we welcome any opportunities to discuss any concerns the government may have. 

The right of citizens to freely voice their concerns and aspirations is foundational to any democracy and is a value shared by both of our countries.  USAID has collaborated with CANVAS for more than two years to help people to speak up for the issues that matter to their families and communities.  We have partnered with CANVAS to deliver training to mothers advocating for better cancer treatments for children, and to people advocating for the rights of elderly citizens in their communities. 

Despite these unwarranted attacks, we will continue to support Georgian organizations who support people to secure the future they determine and deserve and to secure their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Georgian constitution.

• Israel – U.S.
• Knesset
• Benjamin Netanyahu
• Yair Lapid

Editorial |

Editorial |

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) issued the following statement in commemoration of the 22^nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001:

Twenty-two years ago today, nearly 3,000 Americans – including 750 from my home state of New Jersey – were senselessly killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As we come together to honor the lives lost, I am reminded of the cascading emotions we felt on that fateful morning. At first, it was confusion as a passenger plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. It only took minutes for that confusion to turn into horror as two more planes crashed into the South Tower and Pentagon, making it clear that our country was under siege.

“Yet, despite the fear that initially gripped us and the loss we subsequently grappled with, I reflect on the resolve and uncommon heroism that was on display by Americans of all backgrounds on that day. The firefighters, police officers, EMTs and Port Authority officials who raced toward burning buildings as others fought through ash and dust toward safety. The neighbors who held vigils, volunteered their time, and donated blood all because in that moment we were Americans first. And it was in the days and weeks that ensued, at newly hallowed grounds in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, where crews worked through the night to sort through rubble and recover the remains of those we lost.

“As we’ve done for the past two decades, today and every day, we honor their sacrifice and the void left behind through our enduring commitment to never forget. To “Never Forget” continues to be our solemn duty. But to me, a grateful nation does not just utter the words “Never Forget” once a year. Rather, a grateful nation embodies them every day. We embody these words by never wavering from our commitment to take care of the survivors, and the first responders and volunteers who ran towards danger as part of the rescue efforts. And we embody this solemn duty by ensuring victims and families can seek justice from those accused of aiding and abetting the planning and execution of the attacks.

“So today, we come together around the common threads that bound us twenty-two years ago. But we must also ensure moving froward that we continue to invest in the best ideals of America. That every day, we wake up with the same sense of duty and responsibility to one another. To honor those we lost, we must be present in the bright lights of public ceremonies and in the quiet moments of private aching that so often surrounds this solemn date. This will always be my north star as we work to deliver justice and fairness to all the survivors, first responders, and families affected on that fateful day.”

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