The latest series of aggression by Armenia has again turned the situation violent in Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized Azerbaijan’s region but occupied by ethnic Armenians.
In the fresh intense fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, 23 people have been killed, prompting the International Community including the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to voice their concerns and appeal both warring sides to exercise maximum restraints.
Pakistan has also expressed deep concerns over the deteriorating security situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and reiterated its support for Azerbaijan against the aggressor, Armenia.
Fearing that this could compromise peace and security of the entire region, Pakistan urged Armenia to stop its military action to avoid further escalation.
“We support Azerbaijan’s position on Nagorno-Karabakh, which is in line with the several unanimously adopted UN Security Council resolutions,” the Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said on Sunday.
The United States also condemned in the strongest terms the escalation of violence along the Line of Contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, and urged both sides to cease hostilities immediately.
“The United States believes participation in the escalating violence by external parties would be deeply unhelpful and only exacerbate regional tensions. We urge the sides to work with the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to return to substantive negotiations as soon as possible,” the Spokesperson for the United States Department of State Morgan Ortagus said.
Armenia’s provocative actions against Azerbaijan since Nikol Pashinyan became the Prime Minister of Armenia on May 8, 2018;
| Date | Action |
| 8 May 2018 | In his address to Armenia’s National Assembly prior to his election as the prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan raised the issue of participation of the illegal regime established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan as a party to the negotiations. Thus, he has started questioning the format of negotiations and has been doing so on numerous occasions. |
| 9 May 2018 | On the next day of the election, together with his wife, Nikol Pashinyan visited the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. In Khankendi, he participated in the celebration of the occupation of the Azerbaijani city of Shusha, discussed the issue of improvement of the mechanism of “restraint of the enemy” and opened the “Armenian Dram Museum” in Shusha. |
| 16 June 2018 | Nikol Pashinyan visited again the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, inspected positions of the armed forces of Armenia in the eastern part of the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, and held military consultations with illegal regime “officials”. |
| 9 July 2018 | Nikol Pashinyan sent his son to undergo military service in the units of armed forces of Armenia deployed in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. He said that this gesture had been intended to encourage more Armenians to be enlisted in the army. |
| 8 September 2018 | In meeting with the Russian-Armenian businessmen in Moscow, Nikol Pashinyan openly said that “he perceived Artsakh as part of Armenia in the future”. |
| 27 February 2019 | Armenia’s National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsyan at a press conference in the occupied Khankendi city said: “The program that we call a resettlement program, in my and everyone’s assessment will be the main guarantee of our country’s security. Because there are those speeches, those expressions, and those people who always manipulate this subject as if the lands will be returned, will be negotiated, conceded, etc. As a result of that program, we will send a clear message to all our people and the world that we have no intention to give up an inch of land; on the contrary, our compatriots must settle on those lands and build our country.” |
| 12 March 2019 | Nikol Pashinyan visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and in Khankendi city of Azerbaijan, held a joint meeting of the Security Councils of Armenia and the illegal regime created by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. |
| 30 March 2019 | In a meeting with the Armenian community in New York, the Armenian Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan stated that a “territories for peace” approach will no longer be applied. “As the minister of defense, I announce that this format, territories for peace, I have re-phrased it. We are doing the opposite – a new war for new territories,” Tonoyan said. He also said that Armenia will increase the number of its strike units. |
| 9 May 2019 | Nikol Pashinyan visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan where he took part in the celebrations of the occupation of Shusha city. |
| 30 May 2019 | Armenia grossly violated the ceasefire regime on the front line. At a time when the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group paid a visit to Azerbaijan, on May 30 in the morning, a major of the Azerbaijan Army Mr. Agil Omarov was shot and killed by a sniper of the armed forces of Armenia in the direction of the Aghdam district.
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| 10 June 2019 | The Minister of Defence David Tonoyan confirmed that he had personally ordered the killing of an Azerbaijani soldier in the direction of Tartar district of the front line and publicly awarded the murder of an Azerbaijani soldier. |
| 5 August 2019 | Ahead of the start of the Pan-Armenian Games, Nikol Pashinyan declared that “Artsakh is Armenia. Period.” and the crowd chanted “Miatsum” (Unification). |
| 6-17 August 2019 | Armenia held pan-Armenian Games, for the first time, in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. |
| 9 August 2019 | Armenia announced another four-year project aimed at changing the infrastructure of the Sarsang Water Reservoir. Also, the Armenian side announced the construction of the third highway to connect Armenia with the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. These infrastructural changes, which are in violation of international law and Azerbaijani legislation, aim at the consolidation of occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan. |
| 24 September – 5 October 2019 | Armenian armed forces held large-scale military exercises entitled “The expansion of the Armed Forces: Combating the adversary’s aggression” in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan |
| 23 December 2019 | A joint session of the Security Councils of Armenia and the illegal regime established by Armenia in the occupied territories was held in Yerevan co-chaired by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and “President” of the illegal regime Arayik Harutyunyan. |
| 31 March 2020 | Armenia held illegal “parliamentary” and “presidential” elections in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. |
| 21 April 2020 | Commenting the remarks by Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, S.Lavrov, on “liberation of a number of areas around Nagorno-Karabakh and the unlocking of transport, economic and other communications”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said: “There have not been and will not be any concessions. The Armenian sides will never exercise that approach”. |
| 23 April 2020 | Armenia’s MFA declared that a proposal for a peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, envisaging a step-by-step approach, is not acceptable. |
| 26 June 2020 | Armed forces of Armenia, with the participation of the Chief of Staff Onik Gasparyan, held military exercises in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. |
| 10 July 2020
| Armenia adopted a revised National Security Strategy, which defined that the goal of the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict was to consolidate the outcomes of the war launched by Armenia against Azerbaijan. |
| 12-16 July 2020 | Armenia attacked the positions of Azerbaijan at the Armenia-Azerbaijan international border, in the direction of the Tovuz district. 12 servicemen of Azerbaijan and one civilian were killed. |
| 23 July 2020 | Nikol Pashinyan declared that after the July clashes the Armenian position on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict has been strengthened and he put forward 7 conditions, stipulating, inter alia, the following: the system of security of Armenia and the illegal regime “to be strengthened, the illegal regime “must become the full-fledged party to negotiations”, international monitoring of the cease-fire regime must be strengthened, and etc. |
| 4 August 2020 | After the devastating explosion in Beirut, Armenia announced its plan to implant Lebanese Armenians to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. According to the Armenian mass media, several Armenians from Lebanon have already settled in the occupied territories, including in Shusha. Thus, Armenia intensified its illegal settlement policy in 2020. |
| 11 August 2020 | The illegal regime announced its intention of transferring “key administrative offices” to the occupied Shusha city. |
| 17 August 2020 | The illegal regime threatened to strike the Azerbaijani city of Ganja. |
| 26 August 2020 | The Armenian Defense Ministry announced the plan to create a nationwide militia that would reinforce Armenia’s armed forces and could be deployed at “endangered sections” of Armenia’s borders or “line of contact with the adversary”. |
| 28 August 2020 | Nikol Pashinyan held the ceremony to award Armenian servicemen who conducted a military operation against Azerbaijan on July 12-16, 2020. In his speech, he again praised Armenian terrorists, such as Monte Melkonian, for their deeds against Azerbaijani civilians in the course of military operations in early 1990s. |
| 25-31 August 2020 | Anna Hakobyan, the wife of Armenia’s Prime Minister, together with other women participated in combat and shooting training courses in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Videos and photos of the training were widely distributed in media. |
| 29 August 2020 | The Armenian prime minister visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. He awarded servicemen who took part in military aggression against Azerbaijan both in early 1990s and in July 2020. |
| 21 Sept. 2020 | Nikol Pashinyan issued a message to the nation on the 29th anniversary of Armenia’s independence. The second line of the message reads “To the proud citizens of the Artsakh Republic!” [i.e. Karabakh]. |
