YEREVAN—The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has issued a strong response following Armenia’s recent contract with France for the purchase of CAESAR self-propelled artillery systems.
Armenia has finalized an agreement to purchase CAESAR self-propelled artillery systems from France. The deal, hailed as a pivotal milestone by French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornue, was formally sealed on June 17 in Paris. The contract signing ceremony took place between Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan and the military-industrial company KNDS.
Details of the agreement, including the quantity, delivery schedule and production, remain confidential at the request of the Armenian government. This procurement follows recommendations from French senators in December to explore the potential supply of CAESAR artillery systems to Armenia.
“We continue to strengthen our defense relations with Armenia. I had a warm and productive conversation with my colleague,” Minister Lecornue said, highlighting the positive diplomatic and strategic implications of the deal.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry expressed concern over France’s decision to supply Armenia with weaponry, “despite the warnings of the Azerbaijani side.” This move, according to Azerbaijan, is “another evidence of France’s provocative activities in the South Caucasus region.”
In a statement released on June 18, the Defense Ministry criticized France for disregarding Azerbaijani objections and accused President Emmanuel Macron’s administration of “pursuing a policy of militarization and geopolitical intrigue in the region.” The ministry argued that supplying Armenia with lethal weapons contradicts France’s earlier claims that its military aid was defensive in nature.
The statement also accused Armenia of pursuing a revanchist policy with the support of France. It criticized France’s colonial history and accused the Macron regime of perpetuating neocolonialism in various parts of the world.
Azerbaijan concluded by holding Armenia’s leadership and the Macron administration responsible for “the aggravation of the situation in the South Caucasus and the emergence of a new hotbed of war.”
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry issued a formal response on June 19, stating that Baku’s reaction “causes confusion.” The Ministry emphasized that it is the “sovereign right of every state to maintain combat-capable armed forces equipped with modern military assets.”
In its statement, the Foreign Ministry reiterated its commitment to recognizing the territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of all its neighbors, including Azerbaijan. Armenia highlighted the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, wherein both countries agreed to respect each other’s sovereignty. Armenia emphasized its adherence to these principles and clarified that it has no territorial ambitions beyond its internationally recognized borders of 29,743 square kilometers.
The Foreign Ministry underscored its efforts towards this principle, citing practical steps such as the recent demarcation of four villages in the Tavush region of Armenia and Ghazakh region of Azerbaijan. Armenia called on Azerbaijan to reciprocate by ending the occupation of more than 30 villages in Armenia.
“Azerbaijan’s practice of predicting regional escalations at every opportunity is alarming and comes to prove the analyses made by a number of centers that Azerbaijan will do everything to disrupt the process of concluding a peace agreement with Armenia in order to launch a new aggression against the Republic of Armenia after the COP29 summit in Baku in November 2024,” the statement reads.
Armenia urged the international community to take note of Azerbaijan’s continued disruption of the peace process, including its failure to respond to Armenia’s proposal to sign a treaty within one month.
The French-Armenian agreement unfolded against a backdrop of renewed accusations of military activity along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Azerbaijani authorities accused Armenian armed forces of firing small arms towards Azerbaijani positions in Sharur, Ordubad, Sahbuz and Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, between June 12 and 16.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry swiftly denied all accusations made by Azerbaijan, highlighting its commitment to non-aggression and adherence to international agreements. The European Union Mission in Armenia also stated that its border patrols “haven’t observed any unusual movements or incidents.”
These accusations coincided with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s appearance at the National Assembly on June 12, where he faced opposition from thousands of members of the “Tavush for the Homeland” movement. The movement has criticized his administration’s handling of territorial disputes with Azerbaijan and its unilateral concessions of Armenian territories in Tavush.
At least 80 civilians and journalists were injured when police deployed stun grenades to disperse the protest. The police response has come under harsh criticism from Armenian opposition figures, as well as international watchdog groups.
Arman Tatoyan, the former Human Rights Defender of Armenia, condemned the police intervention at the Baghramyan-Demirchyan intersection on June 12 as a serious breach of legal standards.
Tatoyan asserted that the police failed to provide adequate justification or transparency before resorting to special measures against protesters. He criticized the timing and manner in which the police deployed stun grenades and other forceful tactics, arguing that such actions should strictly adhere to protocols governing lethal force. Tatoyan also condemned instances of police violence, including physical assaults on participants, which he insisted must result in criminal prosecution.
Tatoyan accused the government of endorsing the police actions. He specifically criticized National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan’s support of the use of stun grenades. “These statements amount to a green light for unchecked violence and special measures by the police, signaling a culture of impunity,” Tatoyan said, pointing to injuries sustained by both protesters and police officers.
Tatoyan highlighted a direct correlation between political rhetoric condoning police actions and violations, citing a lack of criminal consequences for officers involved in past incidents. “This government, which once pledged to curb police violence and ensure accountability, has instead perpetuated a climate of impunity,” Tatoyan concluded.
Former Prime Minister of Armenia Vazgen Manukyan also strongly condemned the recent violence against protesters on Baghramyan Avenue. He characterized the actions of the police as unjustifiable from humanitarian, professional and legal standpoints, labeling them as criminal acts deserving full consequences.
Manukyan accused the police of enforcing arbitrary orders from a single individual, implicating PM Pashinyan in directing these actions during his address from the National Assembly podium. He said that the government is targeting individuals with patriotic views, pointing to the severe assault on Abraham Gasparyan.
Furthermore, Manukyan said that the current administration is disconnected from the values of the Armenian people, asserting that it does not enjoy popular support. He predicted its short lifespan and the inevitable victory of the “Tavush for the Homeland” movement.
The International Press Institute (IPI), a global advocate for press freedom, also voiced concern over the injuries sustained by at least 10 Armenian journalists at the hands of police during their coverage of the June 12 protests. In a statement, the IPI called for an immediate and thorough investigation into these incidents, urging Armenian authorities to prioritize the safety of all media personnel.
“We demand a swift, comprehensive and impartial inquiry into the events of June 12. Regardless of the context of the protests, any use of excessive force or violence against journalists carrying out their duties is unacceptable. Those responsible for such actions must be held accountable,” said Scott Griffen, Deputy Director of the IPI.
The statement noted that journalists from ABCmedia.am, News.am, CivilNet, Armlur and Mediahub.am were injured, underscoring the need for robust protections for press freedom in Armenia during times of civil unrest.
Tigran Abrahamyan, MP of the “I Have Honor” faction, conducted visits to detention facilities on June 14 to assess the condition of approximately two dozen citizens who were detained during the protest.
“Many of them have sustained injuries of varying degrees as a result of torture inflicted by certain groups of police officers,” Abrahamyan said.
He claimed that PM Pashinyan may have organized a criminal group responsible for these acts of torture and the degradation of human dignity. Abrahamyan suggested that this group operates under Pashinyan’s direct supervision.
“While there were reports of some police officers attempting to prevent the violence, their efforts appear to have been unsuccessful,” Abrahamyan said.
Amnesty International also criticized the police violence against protesters. “We are deeply troubled by the intensity of the clashes in Yerevan. We urge Armenian authorities to conduct an immediate and impartial investigation into the incident, particularly regarding allegations of disproportionate use of force by the police,” stated Natalia Nozadze, Amnesty International’s South Caucasus researcher. She emphasized that the response of authorities to protests, even under volatile circumstances, must adhere to international human rights laws and standards.
Hoory Minoyan
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Classic bully boy behaviour from Azerbaijan echoing Turkey over Cyprus buying arms and Israel regarding Syria and other Arab nations .
Fortunately France isn’t beholden to Azerbaijan and Georgia doesn’t have a problem allowing transit of non Russian weapons to Armenia.
Turkified Georgia is pretty much a lost cause. That’s why they had problem with Russian weapons reaching Armenia, including close both land and air transit routes to Armenia in times of war, but never had any problem with Russian weapons reaching Azerbaijan. Georgia has been bought and sold by Turks and pseudo-Turkish Azerbaijanis long time ago. They are energy transit route and can’t afford to lose that luxury afforded to them by their cunning Turkish and pseudo-Turkish Azerbaijani masters. These fake Christians have sold their souls to Muslim Turkish terrorist hoard long time ago. In due time, they need to be invaded!
Azerbaijan is a poor excuse for a nation but unfortunately is dangerous. Only an arrogant dictator and genocidal murderer would have the audacity to criticize a move by Armenia to defend itself from aggressive neighbors and at the same time
buy weapons for on Russia and Israel.
@ Ararat until 2008 Georgia didn’t object to Russian arms and transits to Armenia as it didn’t consider it a threat to themselves. In 2008 Georgia attempted to reassert authority over Abkhazia and South Ossetia prompting Russia to swiftly intervene. Armenia was neutral and provided humanitarian aid to Georgia including accommodation to refugees and forbade Russia using it’s base in Armenia to assist against Georgia. Obviously the relationship between Russia and Georgia collapsed and as a means of frustrating Russia it forbade transit of Russian military equipment to Armenia, this whilst intended against Russia did impair Russia ability to support Armenia now having to go a roundabout way via Iran and isolated Armenia although Georgia didn’t obstruct non Russian weapons bound for Armenia. Hence this is where one can be inconvenienced by the quarrels between other countries that Armenia didn’t instigate but suffered by default. Also although not designed against Georgia it having fallen out with Russia sought to make the alliance between Russia and Armenia more awkward as a dig at Russia to try and influence Armenia for being aligned to its enemy even if the alliance wasn’t against Georgia. Georgia having friendly relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan although definitely the odd one out wasn’t going to obstruct burgeoning military links between Turkey and Azerbaijan and the oil and gas pipelines which supplied petrodollars to transform the Azeri military and royalties from the transit are a major income for Georgia. This also meant regardless of Pashinyan and Russia that the relationship between Georgia and Azerbaijan was much stronger and Baku’s influence over Tibilsi much greater than it was in the first conflict than in 2020 . The world around Armenia had changed and this would catch up on Armenia in 2020 . However with the decline of relations between Armenia and Russia, Georgia not wanting Armenia to be destroyed even if it is beholden to Turkey and Azerbaijan allows non Russian weapons to transit to Armenia even if Azerbaijan with no sense of irony claims that Armenia procuring weapons raises the risk of war nevermind it’s own massive military buildup of course.. Also as cited the Russian military supported breakaways from Georgia and Russia then condemning Armenia for its supported breakaway from Azerbaijan and it’s actions in Ukraine render it a gross hypocrite in its behaviour towards Armenia and hence why Armenia must be more realistic and less sentimental about Russia. It should also be noted that Russia and Azerbaijan have formally affirmed that there is no territorial disputes on their common border and Russia hasn’t supported breakaways whereas it’s done the reverse with Georgia. Also once Russia encroached into Georgia, Azerbaijan realised it needed to cozy up to Russia more and whilst being too savvy to join the EEU and the CTSO became a keen purchaser of weapons to be used on Russia legal ally Armenia. As for the CTSO Armenia whilst not having a common border with any members is also clearly not among friends Aliyev boast that Azerbaijan has more friends in the CTSO than Armenia is basically true. Russia and Belarus were key weapons suppliers to Azerbaijan, Russia had called for Armenia withdrawal from Arktash and surrounding parts of Azerbaijan had given Azerbaijan the nod to attack in 2020 , Kazakhstan congratulated Azerbaijan and Tartar Kyrgyzstan and Persian Tajikistan didn’t support Armenia and from time to time fight eachother over the Soviet era borders which were perverse like that between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russia had decided that it needed Azerbaijan more than Armenia and it’s perceived support to Armenia over Arktash was a sore point in the relationship between the two hence why Russia betrayed Armenia.
How about if Armenia finally wakes up and doesn’t let itself be exploited by France and its own plans. Haven’t you learned anything from your time with the Russians so that you can be fooled again.
Armenia will not be fooled again by Azerbaijan. The Azeris have stated that they seek to conquer Armenia. And the Azeris have not lived up to any agreement, truce, or ceasefire in the past thirty five years. I would not trust them or their big (blood) brother Turks for one second. And the Russians are complicit with their Azeri ‘business’ partner – I would not trust them either.
The Azeri cultural and genocidal displacement of Armenians from Azerbaijan culminated with the invasion and removal of 150,000 indigenous Armenians from Artsakh. Their twisted logic is that it is ok for the Azeri Turks to purchase advanced drones from Israel to complete a 35 year genocidal displacement of Armenians from Azerbaijan but not ok for Armenia to arm themselves for an invasion by a country that has explicitly stated their intention.
I pray Armenia is gearing up for the Azeri invasion of Armenia itself in the very near future.
So according to Azerbaijani “logic”, Azerbaijan is entitled to spend more than the entire GDP of Armenia, on purchasing the most modern weapons and military hardware, which overwhelmingly are offensive weapons, and not just defensive weapons; whereas Armenia should not spend a cent and buy any defensive weapons and military hardware, let alone offensive weapons, and defend itself at all.
That is why it is so crucial for Armenia to develop its own military-industrial complex, invest in military research and development, create a professional modern army with the most modern weapons and develop military strategies in line with today’s modern warfare.
There is no logic in Turkish and pseudo-Turkish Azerbaijani thinking period and when it comes to the Armenians in particular. I can list many instances of this. For example, the Turkish terrorist-in-chief Er-dog-an calls Israeli leaders terrorists, child killers, mass exterminators, a profession the Turkish criminals themselves excelled in over a century ago against our own defenseless Armenian population, without taking any action against Israel and while invading Armenian territories on Azerbaijan’s behalf and all this WHILE Azerbaijan has been biting its tongue for the last nine months and remaining silent and watching Israeli army invade Gaza and kill over 37K fellow Muslim Palestinian civilians. What happened to their fabricated anti-Armenian “two states, one nation” nonsense? How can these two Turkish and pseudo-Turkish criminal leaders, who claim brotherhood, have such adversarial stand on this? I guess that self-serving fake fraternity between the two applies to their common Armenian enemy only which is an easy target for these two criminals unlike the nuclear-capable Israel they can’t do anything about. I will share a secret about the true character of these Turkish and pseudo-Turkish Azerbaijani hyenas: They turn into “lions” when faced with sheep and turn into sheep when faced with lions.
This is not and can not be about artificial Azerbaijani self-entitlement to buy all kinds of lethal weapons and as much as their petrodollars can afford them WHILE if Armenia tries to procure weapons equal to a fraction of that all of a sudden the “peace” in the region is threatened! Not at all! This is about Azerbaijani fear from armed and united Armenia. They already got a big dose and a bitter taste of that medicine three decades ago and have not forgotten it to this day and will not in a thousand years. That coward Aliyev, hiding behind terrorist Turkey, saw with his own eyes what we did to his KGB father Heydar in 1994 destroying his army and humiliating him and has not forgotten it and is trying to seek vengeance and to keep Armenia inferior to them militarily while our pacifist and unpatriotic sheep Pashinyan is still in office knowing full well when things change soon there will be a new and a ruthless sheriff in town who is going to go after him and take the fight to his doorstep. That’s what this is all about. This is all about his fear of armed and united Armenia!
Needless to say, Armenia for sure has to develop its own military-industrial complex, as you mentioned, and minimize its reliance on others if not eliminate it all together. Additionally, we can no longer afford to put all our proverbial eggs in one basket and need to diversify. But unfortunately it seems these will not happen until this sheep in office Pashinyan is gone for good or removed first. He is no leader and his behavior clearly shows he is delusional and acts as if he has no clue who our enemies really are all about.
I would like to point out to the Armenian FM the fact that the internationally recognized borders of Armenia is by treaty of Serves and Wilsonian Mandate which is about 3000000 Sq. Km. and not the Soviet borders which is not recognized by the international community
The Treaty of Lausanne replaced the Treaty of Sevres after the war between the turks and allies. But I think this replacement was never agreed to by all parties (Armenia for instance, as it was forcibly absorbed into the Soviet Union). Therefore the Armenian part of the treaty should have validation. If the Armenian government had its act together (unfortunately its far from having its act together as its a puppet regime of the west at the moment) they could make a valid claim in the international courts.
Armenia recognise Palestine!
Treaty of Sevres was never ratified. Those who bring it up today as Armenia’s salvation are either idiots or Western agents. Treaty of Lausanne however was made official and it more or less remains in force to this day.
The government in Yerevan at the time, after giving up on waiting for French and/or British forces to come to their rescue, officially turned the country over to the new Bolshevik government in Moscow in order to save it from total collapse. A very smart move by an otherwise very stupid government. On the eve of the Soviet takeover of Armenia, the pro-Western government in Armenia had signed the Alexandropol treaty with Turkey leaving Armenia with around 10,000 square kilometers of territory. The Soviets reversed the said treaty and gave Armenia nearly 30,000 square kilometers of territory. In the process, however, Artsakh was lost due to British machinations, Armenian incompetence and Bolshevik indifference.
History repeats..
@ Gurgen, it is correct that the treaty of Serves of 1920 was never ratified and replaced by the succeeding and rarified treaty of Lausanne of 1923. Hence attempts to quote it are a howl. Nevertheless one is being disingenuous in not acknowledging that the Soviet Union was in cahoots with kemalist Turkey whom it supplied gold and guns to enable their successful wars against Greece and Armenia and compel allied powers to withdraw, but as a stauch Kremlin supporter i wouldn’t expect much different in sentiment from oneself. Nevertheless its curious with the impending Soviet takeover of Armenia along with Georgia and Azerbaijan that Armenia signed the Alexandropol treaty when it was facing annexation and in turn with this obvious to Turkey why they signed protocols with a nation which was about to be conquered by the Soviet Union, perhaps in denial or part of some conspiracy? During the period of British interference when the South Caucasian had a brief independence, it favoured Azeri control of Arktash but independent Armenia contested the area and Yerevan and Baku were disputing and Soviet officials who would not have been bound by British actions once the dunsterforce withdrew were minded to assign it to Armenia, after all it was a largely Armenian population adjoining Armenia and Armenia was the smaller entity and a separate Nakheivan province of Azerbaijan had already been established thus logic should have meant it was to be Armenian, however as is known the Soviets were malicious and perverse and Joseph Stalin assigned it to Azerbaijan with autonomous provisions of limited value which largely had the effect of impoverishing the region and creating resentment, also in the woke ideology of Sovietism race and religion were bougois indulgences hence national boundaries were a administrative technicality not definitions of identity. Of course this was waffling nonsense which has caused much sorrow in Armenia and Azerbaijan and in central Asia and in Ukraine and Russia. If western powers had been better able to support Armenia and the Soviet Union hadn’t colluded with Turkey although it had a brief reconsideration attempt a generation later then Armenia would have been less of a rump state..
All parties signed and agreed to the treaty. Ratification was basically a formality if the kemalists didn’t overthrow the existing turkish leaders. This is another academic and somewhat silly excuse to discount the treaty. It took a revolution and war to overturn it. Not to mention absorbing armenia into the soviet union and thereby preventing them from having any say in their future. Turks like to say the treaty has no meaning, but for the Armenians themselves who were prevented from even having a say, there is validity to their claims. If theres no will or means to enforce anything it doesn’t really matter.
@Ararat, Armenia even if they had been diligent in building the armed forces and keeping pace with and even exceeding the azeris, they could never be fully independent. They are just to small of a country with only 2-3 million at most and few natural resources. They would always need an alliance with Russia and Iran to offset the turkish threat and survive. Since the genocide our survival would always be bound to an alliance with Russia and Iran.
Here is an excellent conversation by three very intelligent men. Pietro Shakaryan briefly mentions British policy during World War One that led to Artsakh’s lose at the time. The bottom line is, had Armenians played our geopolitical cards correctly at the time (i.e. realized that Armenia’s only salvation in a place like the south Caucasus comes from Moscow), Bolsheviks would not have been indifferent towards Armenian interests. History repeats.
Armenia: the target of Washington’s war party
https://youtu.be/Ronv6KaPhnk?si=0j_bo6xB7LdVciCP
Moscow gave us Armenians a degree of “independence” in 2018 because as the war in Ukraine was nearing, official Yerevan was not only refusing to settle the Karabakh dispute as per Moscow’s dictates but was also resisting to enter into a union with the Russian Federation. As soon as the war’s end comes to into sight, Moscow will reinsert itself in Armenian politics somply because it cannot afford to fully abandon Armenia. And that is when Nikol and company will be chased out. Russians have been tolerating self-destructive behavior by Armenians only because they have been stuck in a war against the collective West in Ukraine and they need neutrality from Ankara and Baku.
Gurgen,l
When the Soviet Union, dissolved in 1991, My hope was to see Russia absorbing Armenia, as its 16th Republic of the Russian Federation, for obvious reasons. That said, in reference to your comment,”As soon as the Ukraine-Russia war comes to an end, Nikol and company will be chased out “. Well, what’s keeping the Kremlin from taking out Pashinyan dude? REVENUE, that’s what. A man named , Etibar Ayyub,an Azeri oil trader, and close associate of ,Ilham Aliev, president of Azerbaijan, has been key in aiding
Russia to By-Pass Western sanctions, by helping the export of at least $33 billion in Russian crude oil and fuel in 2023 alone. Therefore, As long as the war continues, so will Russia continue to dodge the Western sanctions, by the help of Ayyub. Otherwise, the Kremlin would’ve taken out Nikol and his clowns long ago. It’s been a tradition in the Kremlin, when someone gets them aggravated , take him/her out.The plane crash carrying Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is a proof of that. The plane was not hit by SAM missile, but some form of sabotage suggesting there was a bomb onboard.
That is why I said Moscow needs Ankara’s and Baku’s neutrality while it is fighting the collective West in Ukraine. Had Armenians had the political maturity and foresight to make Armenia and Artsakh part of the Russian Federation, the geopolitical equasion in the south Caucasus would have been drastically different, and we would not be experiencing this tragedy.
The Russophobes on here are Turk lovers.
Russophobes failed their Geography exams.
Russophobes failed their Maths exams. They just cannot get it into their heads that 3 million Armenians cannot defeat 95 million Turks.
Russophobes are Turk lovers.
I dont know if Kocharian and Sargysyan were really that corrupt and oppressive or the people in Armenia are just lazy in general and wanted an easy life like their compatriots in the USA show on instagram. Anyway, the situation allowed the turkic trojan horse Pashoglu to take over the country, through promises of properity, but what he really did was distance Armenia from Russia, give away Artsakh, and create a mini ukraine in the south caucasus. With the potential if aiming missles at Moscow from Armenia. Hayastancis have totally been played by the west
@ Robert Whig
Russophiles are delusional and infatuated
Pashinyan recognise Palestine ending the situation where Armenia was surrounded by nations recognising Palestine whilst it didn’t itself.
As for what Turks do to Armenian women statement of yours
Russia whom you admire so much is notorious for its women finding work in the old profession abroad and domestic abuse and drunken men at home.