Stability in the South Caucasus matters to NATO
Concluding his tour of the South Caucasus, Secretary General @jensstoltenberg met with @President_Arm and PM @NikolPashinyan in Yerevan and praised 🇦🇲 Armenia for its long-standing partnership and contributions to NATO operations
— NATO (@NATO) March 19, 2024
Day: March 19, 2024
BREAKING: Brazil’s former President Bolsonaro is indicted for criminal association and falsifying his own COVID-19 vaccination data. https://t.co/IN4XlkBHH5
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 19, 2024
Gay Palestinian Ahmad Abu Marhia, who was living in Israel while his asylum claim was being investigated, was kidnapped by Palestinians (probably HAMAS) and taken to the West Bank where he was beheaded.
I wonder if they teach this class at Harvard…
— OSINT (Uri) 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@UKikaski) March 19, 2024
YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenia’s prime minister said Tuesday that the Caucasus nation needs to quickly define the border with neighboring Azerbaijan to avoid a new round of hostilities.
Last year, Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign to reclaim the Karabakh region, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatists’ rule there.
In December, the two sides agreed to begin negotiations on a peace treaty. However, many residents of Armenia’s border regions have resisted the demarcation effort, seeing it as Azerbaijan’s encroachment on the areas they consider their own.
Speaking to residents of the border village of Voskepar in the Tavush region, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned that Armenia’s refusal to delineate the border could trigger a new confrontation.
“It would mean that a war could erupt by the end of the week,” Pashinyan said. He noted that the border demarcation should be based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan based on Soviet maps from 1991, when they were both were part of the Soviet Union.
“We shouldn’t allow the war to start,” Pashinyan said. “And this is also the reason that we decided to go to delimitation of the borders in these parts of Armenia.”
The opposition has blamed Pashinyan and has organized a long series of protests against him for allowing Azerbaijan to rout ethnic Armenian forces and reclaim control over Karabakh. The region, known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh, and large swaths of surrounding territory came under full control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia at the end of a separatist war in 1994.
Azerbaijan regained parts of Karabakh and most of the surrounding territory in a six-week war in 2020. It then launched a blitz last September that routed the separatist forces in one day and forced them to lay down arms. More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region after that, leaving it nearly deserted.
The hostilities have badly strained Russia-Armenia ties, with Armenian authorities accusing Russian peacekeepers who were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2020 war of failing to stop September’s onslaught by Azerbaijan. Moscow, which has a military base in Armenia, has rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.
Moscow, in turn, has been angered by Pashinyan’s efforts to deepen ties with the West and distance his country from a Russia-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet nations. Russia was also vexed by Armenia’s decision to join the International Criminal Court, which last year indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes connected with the war in Ukraine.
Pashinyan underlined Armenia’s intention to forge close relations with the West when he hosted visiting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for talks on Tuesday.
“We want to continue and develop the existing political dialogue and expand our partnership with the alliance and some of its members,” Pashinyan said after the talks.
He said Yerevan would welcome NATO’s efforts to help normalize ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“We expect strong support from the international community, including NATO, for the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he said.
Stoltenberg, who traveled to Armenia to wrap up his three-day tour of the South Caucasus region that also involved visits to Azerbaijan and Georgia, praised Armenia for its contribution to NATO peacekeeping operations, including the alliance’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. “NATO supports Armenian sovereignty and territorial integrity, and your peaceful aspirations,” he said.
Stoltenberg emphasized the need for for Armenia and Azerbaijan to reach an agreement on normalizing ties, emphasizing that “this matters for Euro-Atlantic security as we face a more dangerous world.”
During his visit to Azerbaijan on Sunday, the NATO chief encouraged it to “seize this opportunity to reach a lasting peace agreement with Armenia.”
NATO Secretary General with the Prime Minister of Armenia 🇦🇲 Nikol Pashi… https://t.co/3zfKokYfPt via @YouTube
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) March 19, 2024
Joint press statements by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, 19 March 2024.
🗣 | NATO Secretary General:
Thank you so much Prime Minister Pashinyan,
Dear Nikol,
It’s great to see you again,
And it’s great to be in Yerevan with you,
On my first visit to Armenia as Secretary General of NATO.
Let me start by praising your personal leadership,
Your clear voice for peace,
And your strong commitment to democratic values.
Armenia is a long-standing partner of NATO.
And I welcome your contributions to NATO missions and operations.
For nearly 20 years, Armenia has been a key partner in NATO’s KFOR peacekeeping mission.
Helping to ensure a safe and secure environment for all communities in Kosovo.
And I welcome your increased troop contributions in recent years.
Today in our meeting we discussed the importance of stability in the South Caucasus.
This matters for Euro-Atlantic security as we face a more dangerous world.
Armenia and Azerbaijan now have an opportunity to achieve an enduring peace after years of conflict.
This is why I urge both countries to reach an agreement paving the way for normalisation of relations.
And a durable peace for your people.
NATO supports Armenian sovereignty and territorial integrity, and your peaceful aspirations.
And Russia’s war in Ukraine is a sobering reminder that we cannot take peace for granted.
I welcome your solidarity with Ukraine and invite all partners to do what they can to ensure Putin does not win his war of aggression.
The situation on the battlefield remains difficult.
But this is a reason to step up, not to scale back our support.
If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, there is a real risk that his aggression will not stop there.
And other authoritarian actors will be emboldened.
Today we also spoke about the progress in Armenia’s domestic reforms.
I welcome the fact that you are working to bolster democratic control over your armed forces,
Including through your participation in NATO’s Building Integrity programme.
You have also shown a real commitment to tackling corruption,
Strengthening your democratic institutions,
And upholding the rule of law.
So Prime Minister, thank you again for your warm welcome,
And for your work to build a brighter future for your country and for your region.
I look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership,
Working together for greater peace, stability and prosperity in the South Caucasus and beyond.
So thank you so much,
It’s great to be here.
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Joint press statements by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, 17 March 2024.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Baku on Sunday 17 March 2024, kicking off a three-day, tri-nation tour of the South Caucasus. Meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, the Secretary General welcomed Azerbaijan’s long-standing collaboration with the Alliance, saying he looked forward to further strengthening the partnership.
Mr Stoltenberg welcomed the opportunity to discuss energy security, saying: “energy matters for our security and I welcome that Azerbaijan is developing closer and closer ties with several NATO Allies.” He further pointed to a track record of work on issues of mutual concern and thanked Azerbaijan for its contributions to NATO-led operations and missions – including in Kosovo and Afghanistan – since Azerbaijan joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace in 1994. The Alliance and Baku have also cooperated through NATO’s Science for Peace and Security programme on counter-terrorism and cyber security.
On the situation in the South Caucasus, the Secretary General underlined that “peace and stability is not only important here but for security more broadly”. He said: “Armenia and Azerbaijan now have an opportunity to achieve an enduring peace after years of conflict.” He added: “I can just encourage you to seize this opportunity to reach a lasting peace agreement with Armenia”. On Ukraine, Mr Stoltenberg welcomed the much-needed support provided by Azerbaijan, and called on all countries in the region to step up: “more support is needed because the situation in Ukraine is extremely difficult.”
The Secretary General called the upcoming COP29 global climate summit in Azerbaijan an important milestone: “It is important for everyone concerned about climate change but also important for our security because those issues are closely interlinked.”
On Monday, the Secretary General will meet Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Defence Minister Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov. He will then travel to Tbilisi for meetings with Georgia’s leadership. On Tuesday, Mr Stoltenberg will meet with Armenia’s leadership in Yerevan.
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#NATO #azerbaijan #azerbaycan
NATO Secretary General with the President of Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 Ilham Aliyev,… https://t.co/gRE32xUm6Q via @YouTube
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) March 19, 2024
NATO – Opinion: Joint press statements by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, 19-Mar.-2024 https://t.co/seUjDtRyAA pic.twitter.com/lcqzTu68TF
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) March 19, 2024
NATO – News: Secretary General in Armenia: stability in the South Caucasus matters to NATO, 19-Mar.-2024 https://t.co/FpIOdXPpf4 pic.twitter.com/uIIJc0zT9K
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) March 19, 2024