On 17 October, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He was the first Armenian leader to do so. From the region, only then Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili had done so in 2010. The invitation stemmed from last month’s blitzkrieg operation in Karabakh.
The suggestion followed Aliyev cancelling a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the European Political Community summit in Granada, Spain, on 5 October.
On 3 October, media reported that Arkhady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan had been apprehended and transferred from Karabakh to Baku, where they face multiple charges stemming from crimes allegedly committed under their de facto leadership of the small separatist region situated within Azerbaijan.
Some might argue that the writing was on the wall even in 1998 when Armenia’s first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, was forced to resign by then Prime Minister Robert Kocharyan, former Defence Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, and Interior Minister Serzh Sargsyan, with the full support of then de facto Karabakh leader Arkhady Ghukasyan. Ter-Petrosyan warned what would happen next if proposals from the now defunct OSCE Minsk Group were not accepted, but few listened.
Following the 20 September agreement mediated by the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh, talks have taken place in Yevlakh between Azerbaijan’s delegation and representatives of the region’s ethnic Armenian population. They came a day after Baku said a military operation to disarm and dissolve separatist ethnic Armenian units had achieved its aims.
In what was termed a ‘counterterrorism operation’ by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence, fighting again resumed with ethnic Armenian forces entrenched in the former Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO). This followed earlier reports of seven deaths caused by landmines allegedly laid by Armenian sabotage groups on territory under Baku’s control. The Azerbaijani MoD said it responded by launching surgical strikes against military targets within Karabakh.
On 12 September, after nearly months of not receiving any, humanitarian assistance finally arrived in Karabakh, albeit not without controversy. Having crossed the border between Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation three days earlier, it was meant to travel from Samur to Askeran via Baku, Barda, and Aghdam. However, it remained delayed for days as some wondered whether it would ever arrive at all.
Arayik Harutyunyan, the de facto leader of what remains of the former Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), has resigned. Though many were skeptical, given similar pronouncements in recent months, Harutyunyan, who held the otherwise unrecognized position of ‘president’ of the mainly ethnic-Armenian breakaway region, was true to his word this time.
Nestled within the lush green landscapes of Georgia’s Kvemo Kartli region, the municipality of Gardabani is home to many from the country’s largest ethnic minority: Azerbaijanis. Here, despite concerns of dwindling numbers, the age-old Turkic tradition of wandering minstrels has continued. Known as ashiqs, these troubadours are skilled in the art of performing poetry over music, usually performed on the saz, a stringed instrument resembling a long-necked lute.