GORIS: Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh need security guarantees before giving up their weapons, an adviser to their leader said on Thursday, a day after Azerbaijan declared it had brought the breakaway region back under its control.
Karabakh Armenian authorities accused Azerbaijan of violating a cease-fire agreed on Wednesday after a lightning Azerbaijani offensive forced the separatists to agree to disarm.
Baku’s defense ministry said the allegation that its forces had broken the cease-fire was “completely false.” Two sources in Karabakh’s main city told Reuters they had heard heavy gunfire on Thursday morning, but it was not clear who was firing.
The shooting and the conflicting narratives highlighted the potential for further bloodshed despite a deal agreed 24 hours earlier that Azerbaijan said had restored its sovereignty over Karabakh after 35 years of conflict.
“We have an agreement on the cessation of military action but we await a final agreement — talks are going on,” David Babayan, an adviser to Nagorno-Karabakh’s breakaway ethnic Armenian leader Samvel Shahramanyan, told Reuters. “We need to talk through a lot of many questions and issues.”
“There has not been a final agreement yet.”
When asked about giving up weapons, Babayan said his people could not be left to die, so would security guarantees first.
“A whole host of questions still need to be resolved,” he said.
Talks took place on Thursday in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh between Azerbaijan and representatives of the Republic of Artsakh, as the Karabakh Armenians call themselves.
The Artsakh authorities said in a post on Telegram that no final agreement had been reached.
“CRIMINAL JUNTA CONSIGNED TO HISTORY“
Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has enjoyed de facto independence since breaking away in a war in the 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed.
Restoring control has been a cherished dream for Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, who launched a lightning military operation on Tuesday that quickly broke through Karabakh Armenian lines.
In a speech to the nation on Wednesday night, he said Azerbaijan had triumphed with an “iron fist.”
“After the surrender of the criminal junta, this source of tension, this den of poison, has already been consigned to history,” Aliyev said, focusing his anger on Karabakh’s leadership.
He said the region’s ethnic Armenians would enjoy full educational, cultural and religious rights. All ethnic groups and faiths would be united as “one fist — for Azerbaijan, for dignity, for the Motherland.”
Defeat is a bitter pill for the separatist Karabakh leadership and for Armenia, which helped its kin in the enclave to maintain their autonomy and fought two wars with Azerbaijan in the space of 30 years.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan acknowledged in a speech to mark his country’s independence day that Armenians were going through “untold physical and psychological suffering.”
But he said that, to guarantee its survival, his country badly needed peace: “an environment that is free from conflicts, inter-state, inter-ethnic conflicts.”
AZERBAIJAN OFFERS ARMENIA PEACE DRAFT
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday that Armenia’s restraint in not trying to block Baku’s offensive would
remove an obstacle
to peace between the two Caucasus neighbors. An aide to Aliyev said Baku had given Yerevan a new draft peace agreement, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Russia, which has peacekeepers in the region, also did nothing to stand in the way of the Azerbaijani offensive — a source of bitter resentment to many Armenians who looked to Moscow as an ally and protector.
In the Armenian capital Yerevan, thousands gathered on Wednesday to denounce their government’s failure to protect Karabakh.
Many demanded the resignation of Pashinyan, who presided over defeat to Azerbaijan in a six-week war in 2020 that paved the way for this week’s loss of Karabakh but nevertheless won re-election several months later.
In Karabakh, many ethnic Armenians have fled their homes in the past three days, some massing at the airport in the main city and others taking shelter with Russian peacekeepers.
Residents of Stepanakert, which Azerbaijan calls Khankendi, said there was no electricity, shops were bare, and people were lighting fires in courtyards to try to cook whatever food they could find. Authorities said they would hand out free food.
“There are a lot of displaced people from the villages, they were just moved to the city and had nowhere to spend the night,” said Gayane Sargsyan, who runs a wellness business in the city.
In a voice message, she told Reuters that rumors were swirling about what would happen next and people were in “chaos and bewilderment.”
Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians seek guarantees before handing weapons to Azerbaijan
https://arab.news/wr483
Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians seek guarantees before handing weapons to Azerbaijan
- Ethnic Armenian official: weapons surrender yet to be worked out
- Talks held after Azerbaijan reclaims control of Karabakh
Stars and royals gather for the BAFTA film awards, with ‘One Battle’ and ‘Sinners’ leading the race
LONDON: Hollywood stars and British celebrities, from Paddington Bear to the Princess of Wales, gathered Sunday for the British Academy Film Awards, where politically charged thriller “One Battle After Another” and blues-steeped epic “Sinners” led the field of nominees.
The two films snagged early prizes, with Wunmi Mosaku taking the supporting actress award for “Sinners,” and Sean Penn winning the supporting actor trophy for “One Battle After Another.”
Oddsmakers suggest Shakespearean family tragedy “Hamnet” could beat the front-runners to best picture if British film industry voters respond to the emotionally rich story, earthy English setting and intense performances in Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s historical novel.
Stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, Cillian Murphy, Glenn Close and Ethan Hawke were among those walking the red carpet outside London’s Royal Festival Hall before a black-tie ceremony hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming.
Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales also attended, three days after William’s uncle Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested by police and held for 11 hours over allegations he sent sensitive government information to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The scandal has rocked the royal family led by King Charles III, though William and Kate remain popular standard-bearers for the monarchy. William is due to present an award in his role as president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Among the biggest receptions from gathered fans was for Paddington, the puppet bear who stars in a musical stage adaption of the beloved children’s classic.
Oscars bellwether
“One Battle” has 14 nominations, including best picture and acting nods for five of its cast. “Sinners” is just behind with 13, while “Hamnet” and the ping-pong odyssey “Marty Supreme” each have 11 nominations.
Guillermo del Toro’s reimagining of “Frankenstein” and Norwegian family drama ” Sentimental Value” each got eight nominations.
The British prizes, officially called the EE BAFTA Film Awards, often provide hints about who will win at Hollywood’s Academy Awards, held this year on March 15. In the Oscar nominations, “Sinners” leads the race with a record 16 nominations, followed by “One Battle After Another” with 13.
Cumming told the audience that it had been a strong year for cinema, if not a cheerful one, with nominated films tackling themes including child death, racism and political violence:
“Watching the films this year was like taking part in a collective nervous breakdown,” he said. “It’s almost as though there are events going on in the real world that are influencing filmmakers.”
The BAFTA best film nominees are “One Battle After Another,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” “Sinners” and “Sentimental Value.” The BAFTAs also have a distinctly British accent, with a separate category for best British film. Its 10 nominees include “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” “Pillion,” “I Swear” and “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.”
Directing contenders are Paul Thomas Anderson for “One Battle,” Josh Safdie for “Marty Supreme,” Ryan Coogler for “Sinners,” Yorgos Lanthimos for dystopian tragicomedy “Bugonia,” Joachim Trier for “Sentimental Value” and Zhao for “Hamnet.” Zhao will be the first female director to win two BAFTAs if she takes the prize. She won the directing award in 2021 for “Nomadland.”
Best leading actor nominees are bookies’ favorite Chalamet for “Marty Supreme,” DiCaprio for “One Battle After Another,” Ethan Hawke for Broadway biopic “Blue Moon,” Michael B. Jordan for “Sinners,” Jesse Plemons for “Bugonia” and Robert Aramayo for playing an advocate for people with Tourette’s syndrome in biographical drama “I Swear.”
The leading actress category includes the strongly favored Jessie Buckley for her performance as Agnes Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, in “Hamnet.” She’s up against Rose Byrne for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” Kate Hudson for “Song Sung Blue,” Chase Infiniti for “One Battle After Another,” Renate Reinsve for “Sentimental Value” and Emma Stone for “Bugonia.”
“One Battle” actors Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn are all nominated for supporting performances.
AP gets documentary nod
The Associated Press was recognized in the best documentary category with a nomination for Mstyslav Chernov’s harrowing Ukraine war portrait “2000 Meters to Andriivka, ” co-produced by the AP and Frontline PBS.
Most BAFTA winners are chosen by 8,500 members of the UK academy of industry professionals. Contenders for the Rising Star award — the only prize decided by public vote and a reliable picker of future A-listers — are Infiniti, Aramayo, “Sinners” star Miles Caton and British actors Archie Madekwe and Posy Sterling.
Donna Langley, the UK-born chairwoman of NBCUniversal Entertainment, will be awarded the British Academy’s highest honor, the BAFTA fellowship.
The ceremony airs on BBC in the United Kingdom starting at 7 p.m. (1900 GMT) and on E! in the US at 8 p.m. EST.
