The Ambassador of Armenia to France deplored this Thursday, September 22 that all the attention of the international community is "
turned towards Ukraine
" and denounced, a week after heavy fighting, an "Azerbaijan aggression" threatening according to her the very existence of his country.
"
Armenia is going through a crucial moment, its survival is at stake
," assured Hasmik Tolmadjian during a press conference in Paris.
“
If there is not a sufficiently firm international reaction, tomorrow is the end of Armenia
,” she insisted, calling for “
a clear condemnation of Azerbaijani aggression
” and sanctions.
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Deadly clashes (nearly 300 dead) broke out on September 13 on the border between the two countries, which mutually blame each other for the most violent fighting since the war in 2020. Calm has returned in recent days, but the The situation remains tense between the rival ex-Soviet republics.
"
All the attention of the international community is turned towards Ukraine, we are a collateral victim of the current major geopolitical upheaval
", estimated Hasmik Tolmadjian, denouncing the "
extreme loneliness of Armenia
" in the current context.
Armenia, an ally of Russia, and Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, have clashed in two wars over the past three decades for control of Nagorny Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian-populated enclave attached to other Azerbaijan, and having unilaterally proclaimed its independence in 1991. After a first war which claimed more than 30,000 lives in the early 1990s, Yerevan and Baku clashed again in the fall of 2020, in battles which cost lives to more than 6,500 people.
“Ethnic cleansing”
After an agreement signed under the aegis of Russia, in November 2020 Moscow deployed some 2,000 peacekeepers to Nagorny Karabakh.
“
Their presence is reassuring
” and “
has allowed a certain stabilization of the situation
”, but Baku has not given up its project of “
ethnic cleansing
”, accused the representative of Nagorno Karabakh in France, Hovhannes Guévorkian.
For its part, Baku denies any desire for ethnic cleansing and accuses Armenia of wanting to block any peace process.
"
They want to internationalize the issue and pose as victims to divert attention from the fact that they are not respecting the agreement
" signed in 2020, Azerbaijan's ambassador to France, Rahman Mustafayev, recently told AFP. , lamenting the "
narrative of presenting Baku as the aggressor
".
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Busy with its offensive in Ukraine, Russia is isolated on the international scene.
Therefore, the historical mediation of the Minsk Group, led by the Americans, the Russians and the French, is called into question in the conflict between the two Caucasus countries.
Moreover, in the context of the energy crisis amplified by the war in Ukraine, Europeans seeking to free themselves from Russian gas supplies are turning to other countries, including Azerbaijan.
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