The new ceasefire was agreed on October 25 under the mediation of the United States, where the foreign ministers of both warring countries have been meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other American officials, as well as with one another
World powers are calling for peace as the conflict continues between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The territory is in Azerbaijan but run by ethnic Armenians; both sides claim it as their own. Meanwhile in America, both Armenian and Azerbaijani diasporas are mobilizing to help their homelands
A cathedral in Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh was damaged in fighting on October 8. Armenia has blamed Azerbaijan, which denies targeting any religious sites. Districts across Azerbaijan have also come under attack from the Armenian side. The violent conflict between the two sides, which resulted in a war in the 1990s, flared up
Turkey’s backing of Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno Karabakh enclave is coming under increasing scrutiny. Despite international pressure, Turkey is rejecting calls to back an unconditional ceasefire, as Ankara steps up its support of Azerbaijan’s military goals.
Residents of the village of Tazakend in Azerbaijan cleaned up the rubble after shelling by Armenian forces damaged businesses and homes. There were reportedly some 50 shell strikes overnight on October 6 after a lull in the fighting the previous day
To be sure, the scale of the fighting and Turkey’s support have given Baku greater confidence to resist what it has long seen as Moscow’s self-serving conflict management. But what else lies behind Russia’s low-profile response?
The seizures come as Minasyan has been taking a higher-profile role as a government critic-in-exile. In April he was charged with money laundering, among other crimes, and has refused to come to Armenia to face the charges. (He lives abroad – it is not clear where – and was formerly Armenia’s ambassador to the Vatican.)
Since the new government took over, “fake news” has become a political tool in the hands of former regime loyalists, argued Arman Babajanyan, an independent member of parliament
Data from the National Statistics Service in fact show that the balance between people who left Armenia and those who entered did in fact decrease by 88.6 percent over the period Pashinyan identified
Trade between Armenia and Iran is relatively small – reportedly $364 million in 2018 – but it had been growing steadily. It’s unclear what impact the financial restrictions have caused. Artak Manukyan, an economist and member of parliament, told Eurasianet that in the first quarter of 2019 exports to Iran decreased by 30 percent over the same period from 2018, but that imports had increased also by 30 percent