At UN, Armenia Accuses Azerbaijan of 'Unspeakable Atrocities'

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York Yuki IWAMURA AFP
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York Yuki IWAMURA AFP
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At UN, Armenia Accuses Azerbaijan of 'Unspeakable Atrocities'

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York Yuki IWAMURA AFP
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York Yuki IWAMURA AFP

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan used his address before the United Nations Thursday to accuse Azerbaijan of "unspeakable atrocities" during the latest clashes between the two rivals, including mutilating the bodies of dead soldiers. 

Fighting flared up last week between the Caucasus countries, leaving nearly 300 dead in the worst violence since a war in 2020, AFP said.

"There are evidences of cases of torture, mutilation of captured or already dead servicemen, numerous instances of extra-judicial killings and ill treatment of Armenian prisoners of war, as well as humiliating treatment of the bodies," he told the UN General Assembly.

"The dead bodies of Armenian female military personnel were mutilated, and then proudly video recorded with particular cruelty by the Azerbaijani servicemen."

As Pashinyan spoke, Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, who is set to address the global body this weekend, watched impassively.

Pashinyan went on: "No doubt, committing such unspeakable atrocities is a direct result of a decades-long policy of implanting anti-Armenian hatred and animosity in the Azerbaijani society by the political leadership."

He also accused Azerbaijan of shelling civilian facilities and infrastructure deep inside his country's territory, displacing more than 7,600 people, as well as leaving three civilians dead and two missing.

"This was not a border clash. It was a direct, undeniable attack against the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Armenia," he said.

The speech comes just days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged peace between the two sides in a meeting where he hosted both countries' top diplomats.

"Strong, sustainable diplomatic engagement is the best path for everyone," Blinken said.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, during a visit Sunday to the Armenian capital Yerevan, blamed Baku for "illegal" attacks on Armenia, condemning an "assault on the sovereignty" of the country.

Washington's ties are deepening with Yerevan whose traditional ally Moscow is distracted with its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has close ties with both former Soviet states. It is obligated to intervene if Armenia is invaded under a security pact, but did not rush to help despite an appeal from Yerevan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars -- in the 1990s and in 2020 -- over the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan.

A six-week war in 2020 claimed the lives of more than 6,500 troops from both sides and ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire.

Under the deal, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Moscow deployed about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce.



Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.