The border standoff in Armenia’s Syunik Province, especially the chaos at the Goris-Kapan highway, where Azerbaijanis have set up a check point and are impeding transportation has promoted the United States to reiterate and press for a “comprehensive settlement” of the Karabakh conflict.
“What we think is extremely important and what we are seeing happening in Syunik marz and particularly on the road between Goris and Kapan is the point that we have been making since the ceasefire arrangement that was announced last November, that is that there is a need for a comprehensive settlement, for Armenia and Azerbaijan to really be able to see a long term peace,” the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy told reporters on Wednesday, Ambassador said.
For weeks, Azerbaijani forces have created chaos on the Goris-Kapan Highway, a major civilian and commercial route and Armenia’s only road to Iran. Late last month, Azerbaijani forces blockaded the road and after setting up a check point last week, they began inspecting vehicles from Iran and levying taxes. On Wednesday, Azerbaijani forces arrested two Iranian truck drives, whom they claimed had illegally crossed into Azerbaijani territory.
In speaking to reporters, Tracy, again stated that the U.S. does not see the status of Nagorno Karabakh as having been resolved. Similar statements by Tracy angered Azerbaijan, with officially Baku accusing Tracy of undermining the OSCE Minsk Group process, long dismissed as ineffective by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
“We don’t see the status of Nagorno Karabakh as having been resolved,” Tracy reiterated on Wednesday. “We see the need for a comprehensive settlement that requires negotiations, and that is one very important way to try to address the various tensions that we have been seeing particularly in the border areas.”
Tracy spoke to reporters on the margins of a conference where the U.S. announced $9.5 million in assistance to Armenia to combat corruption and strengthen public demand for accountability.
Tracy attended the conference, along with Armenia’s Deputy Justice Minister Suren Grigoryan, Chair of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption Haykuhi Harutyunyan, lawmakers and civic leaders.
This incompetent government is an embarrassment to the entire nation. The day that they are forced to resign can not come soon enough. The artificial state of azerbaran has NO jurisdiction over these regions and roads. They are making things up with GPS nonsense. Enough is enough already. Send in an armed unit and remove those filthy subhuman azerbarani terrorists once and for all. What the heck are you waiting for? Using the Russians as middle men to resolve these issues with the sadistic subhuman enemy is like having the fox watch over the hen house. I have no doubt the Russians had a hand in this war against the Armenians. They were aware in advance of what was about to take place last September and did nothing. They collaborated with terrorist Turkey and that’s why they turned a blind eye on the intrusion into the Armenian backyard by a Muslim Turkish terrorist NATO member state. When was the last time that Russia allowed a NATO member state to creep into a region it considers its own sphere of influence and use military force and against its own supposed military and strategic Armenian ally? Never!
TO ARARAT!!
WHAT ARMED UNIT???? WHAT SOLDEIRS???? WHAT WEAPONS??? ARMENIA MILITARY OLD!! WEAK! OLD WEAPONS!!!! NOT ENOUGH SOLDIERS!!!! DO YOU LIVE IN ARMENAI????? WHY NOT????? EASY TO TALK WHEN LIVE IN OTHER COUNTRY!!! WHY DIASPORA NOT MOVE BACK TO FREE AND INDEPENDENT ARMENIA????? EVERYONE LIVE IN GLENDALE!!! EASY LIFE WHILE TALK ABOUT ARMENIA!!!! SAD!! SAD!!! SAD!!!
HAGOP
When you make such blanket statements about Armenians that imply we can criticize and express our opinions ONLY if we are citizens of Armenia or have to be living in Armenia to show our discontent THEN you sound no different from our leaders in Armenia who want or beg for our help and financial assistance but they expect we shut our mouths and not interfere in the politics of Armenia. It does not work that way. According to you, if Armenian military is old or the army is not in the condition it should be or whatever the case may be that does not mean Armenia does not have the capability to throw out, kill or capture the enemy terrorists deliberately, taking advantage of the current situations, causing all these problems for the sole purpose of getting more concessions from our weak and incompetent leader while they can.
Of course the Armenian army can take care of these terrorists now and they could have done it months ago. But to do these things requires the right leadership. Someone who is sworn to serve the Armenian nation and work for the interests of the homeland and not comply with the orders of his masters in Moscow or the wishes of Turkish and pseudo-Turkish terrorists in his backyard. Not everyone who criticizes our primitive and defeatist foreign policies has to hold a gun in his hand or a take up arms and go to the front. Need I remind you that some of our most influential patriots and revolutionaries were those who used their love of the homeland, their intellect and the power of their pen to awake and rise up an entire nation? If there is a will there is a way! P.S. contrary to your presumptions, not every Armenian who critiques and expresses his thoughts lives in Glendale. I certainly don’t.
TO ARARAT!!!!
MILITARY THROW OUT KILL AND CAPTURE ENEMY??? HAHAHAHAHA ARMENIA HAS ZERO MILITARY CAPABILITY!!!!! U FORGET 40+DAY WAR????? ARMENIA VERSUS AZERBAYJAN AND TURKEY AND ISIS TERRORISTS!!!!! YOU ARE LIVING FANTASY LAND!!!!! YES!! RIGHT LEADERSHIP BUT NOT ARMENIAN!!!! ALL CORRUPT!!! ARMENIAN PERSON CAN NOT GOVERN ARMEANIA!!! PERIOD!!!!!! ARMENIAN PEEOPLE ONLY SUCCESS UNDER FOREIGN RULE!!!!! YOU CAN GIVE ALL MONEY YOU WANT FOR THEM TO STEEL!!!!! GIVE MONEY AND TALK!!!! OK. YOU NOT LIVE IN GLENDALE!!!! U LIVE IN BURBANK!!!!!!!
HAGOP
You just proved my point. You said for 44 days Armenia fought a war against the combined forces of Azerbaijan, Turkey and ISIS terrorists. But of course you left out or forgot to mention Pakistan, Belarus and Israel. How many countries can you name, with their limited resources, that can fight and withstand this much power for a month and a half? An Armenian state that did not even have an army 30 years ago fought against terrorist Turkey with membership in NATO since 1952. Yes there was corruption and disorganization and nobody is denying that. But there was also premature trust by our self-assured and naive leaders in Russia, US and France as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group believing in their words that war is unacceptable as a solution to this conflict but when it happened they did nothing to stop it. Regardless of their declaration, it was ultimately our responsibility to prepare for any scenario and I have no doubt the outcome of this war would have been much different, and in our favor, if Armenia ONLY fought against Azerbaijan.
Ask yourself, why would Azerbaijan with so much weapons and oil money need all these powers on its side to fight against a tiny Armenian defense army? Because they tried so many times and realized on their own they can not defeat Armenians. You don’t seem to understand my point that any Armenian armed unit today is more than capable of destroying the Azerbaijani enemy if nobody else interferes. It is the treasonous and incompetent Pashinyan government that has made it illegal for Armenians to attack and shoot at Azerbaijanis! This is the main reason why we have such problems today. Azerbaijanis have no fighting intellect. That’s why in 1994 they lost 6-7 times more soldiers and the same happened this time too but they hide the total from their ignorant population. According to our Armenian leaders who conducted and fought the war in 1990s Azerbaijan lost 37,500 soldiers while we only lost 6,150. Their casualty numbers were so high that it took them more than two decades to recover from humiliating defeat Armenians gave them.
You are mixing things up. You need to think clearly and logically. YES this was an unfair war because for the Turks only the end result is important and does not matter how they get there even if they loose a million soldiers. But we can not afford to do that. Once again, my point is that Azerbaijanis have ZERO chance against us if nobody interferes in the war. But they do, directly or indirectly and secretly, because they have multi billion dollar investments in Caspian oil & gas to protect. I don’t live in Burbank either. It looks like you do!
THIS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ARMENIA HAS NO POWER!!! NO STRENGTH!!! NO MILITARY!!! 5000 YEARS OF ARMENIAN HISTORY NO TEACH ARMENIAN LEADERS THIS LESSON!!!!! BILLIONS OF DOLLARS STEAL BY CORRUPT LEADERS FOR 30 YEARS!!!! THAT MONEY NOW COULD HAVE MADE ARMENIA SMALL SUPERPOWER!!!!! SAD!! SAD!!! SAD!!!!! AND STUPID!!! STUPID!!! STUPID!!!