Tag Archives: border disputes

Azerbaijan forces OSCE to close office in Yerevan

YEREVAN, MAY 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The OSCE will close its office in Yerevan, its last in the South Caucasus, after Azerbaijan refused to agree to an extended remit.

The closure of the OSCE’s office is a reflection of worsening relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and increased tension around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Each week both sides accuse the other of breaking a ceasefire. Last year, the worst fighting since 1994 killed dozens of people.

The OSCE, Europe’s democracy and conflict watchdog, said it had no choice but to close the office.

“We regret that after months of negotiations compromise on the extension of the mandate proved impossible. The Chairmanship has exhausted all possibilities to resolve the impasse,” it said.

“The Office is expected to close in the coming months.”

For the OSCE to maintain its office in Yerevan it needed the consensus of all 57 its members. Azerbaijan refused to endorse it because of its de-mining operation in Nagorno- Karabakh which it claimed legitimised Armenia-backed rebels’ rule over the disputed region. The US has accused Azerbaijan of deliberating using the issue of de-mining to close the OSCE office.

Azerbaijan closed down the OSCE’s Baku office in 2015 and in 2008, after a Georgia-Russia war, Russia forced the OSCE to close its office in Tbilisi.

Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Centre based in Yerevan, said the closure of the OSCE office made the West look weak.

“This decision only reaffirms the weakness and lack of Western resolve in the face of a direct challenge from an authoritarian country,” he told The Conway Bulletin.

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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Georgia says Russia is still its biggest threat

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TBILISI, APRIL 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In its latest national defence review, undertaken every four or five years, Georgia said that its biggest threat was still Russia despite a marked improvement in relations between the two neighbours since 2012.

Quoting from the Georgian language document, the civil.ge news website said that a build up of Russian forces in the Caucasus and the Black Sea region was a threat.

“The main factor for planning national defence and security still remains the threat from the Russian Federation,” the civil.ge website reported. The review has not yet been published in English.

Relations between Georgia and Russia have improved since the Georgian Dream came to power in 2012 and former president Mikheil Saakashvili fled into exile.

The report, which sets the tone and agenda for the Georgian military up to 2020, said that Russian aggression and its lack of respect for international law posed a serious threat to Georgia. In particular, the report’s authors said the build up of Russian military in the region “will weaken the West’s access to the Caucasus region, and, accordingly, decrease its capability to balance Russia.”

Russia has increased its military cooperation with the rebel Georgian states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia since a war with Georgia in 2008. This has included holding military exercises in South Ossetia deploying thousands of soldiers.

Since annexing Crimea in 2014, Russia has also strengthened its presence in the Black Sea.

Part of Georgia’s defence plan is to join NATO and in the Defence Review it said that it would continue to support NATO, EU and UN operations.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Russia accuses Georgia of undermining talks

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MARCH 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In the run-up to the 34th round of bilateral talks in Geneva between Georgia and Russia, the Russian foreign ministry accused its Georgian counterparts of a series of provocative statements designed to undermine the talks. The Geneva talks have been a vital part of the reconciliation process between Russia and Georgia since a war in 2008.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Azerbaijani President meets Hollande in Paris

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MARCH 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev was in Paris to meet with French President Francois Hollande, a week after his foe Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan also travel to the Elysee Palace. The meeting was framed around ongoing talks to find a permanent peace for the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan and Armenia-backed rebels have officially been at war over since the early 1990s. A UN ceasefire has held a shaky peace since 1994. There were no particular deals announced at the meeting.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Russia to take some soldiers from Georgia’s breakaway region

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TBILISI, MARCH 13/14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia agreed to absorb some South Ossetian army units into its military, cementing its control over the Georgian breakaway region.

The announcement, which has been in the making for two years, comes only a few weeks after Russia held its annual military exercise in South Ossetia, manoeuvres guaranteed to draw an angry response from Georgia only nine years since the two neighbours fought a brief war over the rebel region.

Under the military amalgamation plan, members of the better trained South Ossetian units will be able to switch to the Russian army.

The Kremlin simply said Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed “The Order of Inclusion of Certain Units of the Armed Forces of South Ossetia in the Russian Armed Forces.”

In the Georgia-Russia war of 2008, South Ossetian militia were considered to be fierce but ragged. They were praised for holding off Georgia’s army from capturing Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, for a crucial 24 hours before Russian reinforcements reached them. But they were also regarded as ill-disciplined and blamed for burning Georgian houses, murder and looting.

Tension around Georgia’s border with South Ossetia is still high.

Since the 2008 war, Russia has officially recognised South Ossetia as an independent state. Only a handful of countries have followed its lead, notably the Pacific Ocean nation of Nauru, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

South Ossetia has always said that its ultimate aim is to join Russia and the move by the Russian army to absorb some its soldiers takes it a step closer.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Armenian leader flies to Paris for talks with Hollande over Nagorno-Karabakh

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YEREVAN, MARCH 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan flew to Paris to meet with French President Francois Hollande to sign deals on tourism and educational issues as well as discuss the ongoing simmering conflict around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Earlier this month Azerbaijan said five of its soldiers had been killed in the region and Armenia-back rebels said one of its soldiers had been killed. This was the worst outbreak of fighting since April last year when Azerbaijani tanks rolled into the region controlled by Armenia-back rebels. At least 100 people were killed in the fighting last year.

In an interview with AFP news agency ahead of his trip to Paris, Mr Sargsyan blamed Azerbaijan for the fighting.

“The danger of a new war is constant and will persist until Azerbaijan is persuaded that there is no military solution to the conflict,” he said.

Azerbaijan disputes this and has blamed Armenian rebels for the war in the early 1900s that and was only stopped by a UN ceasefire.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Georgia’s rebel state closes borders

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MARCH 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Abkhazia, one of Georgia’s rebel states, closed two of the three remaining crossing points, drawing criticism from the United States and the EU. Abkhazian officials decided last year to close the border points to improve control over border crossings. Abkhazia also closed two other border crossings in 2016.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Clashes take place in between Armenia and Azerbaijan

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MARCH 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A series of clashes in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia-backed rebels and Azerbaijani forces were being dubbed the worst since April 2016. On Feb. 27 Azerbaijan said that five of its soldiers had been killed in a firefight with Armenia- backed rebels who control the region under a 1994 UN-negotiated ceasefire which ended a war that killed 30,000 people. Two days later, the Armenia-backed rebels said one of their soldiers had been killed.

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(News report from Issue No. 319, published on March 3 2017)

Georgia to change breakaway region’s name

FEB. 7 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a jibe at Georgia’s central government, the rebel authorities in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia called a referendum on April 9 to vote to rename the region South Ossetia-Alania. Alania is the semi-mythical term for the combined region of North and South Ossetia. North Ossetia lies inside Russia, which the South Ossetian rebels want to join. The Kremlin has recognised South Ossetia’s independence since a war with Georgia in 2008. Only staunch Russian allies have followed this lead.

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(News report from Issue No. 316, published on Feb. 10 2017)f

Russian military exercises in Georgian region

JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia has said 2,000 soldiers will take part in a major military exercise in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia later this month. The exercise will also involve tanks and artillery and will be viewed as a provocation by Georgia. South Ossetia was the focus of fighting between Georgia and Russia in a five day 2008 war. Russia held a similar military exercise in South Ossetia in 2016 too.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)