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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 3 November 2020
Armenian recruits baptized before heading into war

By The Associated Press ethnic Armenian forces defense minister. co-chairs of the so-called quickly challenged by re-
IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH backed by Armenia since Azerbaijani authorities Minsk Group of the Organi- ports of shelling of civilian
(AP) — In a wooded area the 1994 end of a separat- haven't disclosed their mili- zation for Security and Co- settlements.
of Nagorno-Karabakh, new Azerbaijani President Ilham
recruits to the war besieg- Aliyev has said that to end
ing the region are under- hostilities, Armenian forces
went a ritual Monday they must withdraw from Nago-
hope will help them en- rno-Karabakh. He repeat-
dure the fight — baptism edly criticized the Minsk
into the Armenian Apos- Group for not producing
tolic Church. One by one, progress and insisted that
the young men in camou- Azerbaijan has the right to
flage fatigues approached reclaim its territory by force
a priest, who dipped their since international media-
clasped hands into a wa- tors have failed.
ter-filled kettle and then Azerbaijani troops, which
anointed their heads and have relied on strike drones
necks. Afterwards, the and long-range rocket sys-
young men stood at at- tems supplied by Turkey,
tention as the priest hung have reclaimed control of
wooden crosses around several regions on the fring-
their necks. es of Nagorno-Karabakh
Their faces were impassive, and pressed their offensive
but one betrayed the emo- into the separatist territory
tion churning beneath by from the south.
kissing the cross. The newly baptized soldiers
"The baptism cleansed and the priests who blessed
us and helped us forget Priest Aristakes Hovhannisyan conducts a baptism ceremony for ethnic Armenian soldiers in them are prepared for
about the horrors of the a military camp near the front line during a military conflict in separatist region of Nagorno- more suffering to come.
Karabakh, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020.
war," Tigran Kagramanian, Associated Press "We came here to inspire,
an 18-year-old recruit, told but it is us who are inspired,
The Associated Press after ist war that killed an esti- tary losses, but say the fight- operation in Europe, which looking into the eyes of
the Monday ceremony. mated 30,000 people. ing has killed at least 91 ci- tries to mediate the con- these young guys, who fully
The fight between Arme- Several cease-fires have vilians and wounded 400. flict. The talks concluded understand the situation
nian and Azerbaijani forces been declared, then ig- In the most recent attempt with the two sides agreeing and are nonetheless ready
that began in late Septem- nored within hours. The Na- to defuse tensions, the for- they "will not deliberately to take on this martyrs'
ber is the worst eruption of gorno-Karabakh defense eign ministers of Armenia target civilian populations death, knowing that behind
hostilities over Nagorno- ministry said Monday that and Azerbaijan met Friday or non-military objects in them are their shrines, their
Karabakh in decades. The 1,177 Armenian fighters in Geneva for a day of talks accordance with interna- families and their mothers,"
region Azerbaijan has been have died in the war, in- brokered by Russia, the tional humanitarian law," said one of the priests, Aris-
under the control of local cluding the region's deputy United States and France, but the agreement was takes Hovhannisian.q
Western nations decry Belarus crackdown at UN rights review

its rights record scrutinized Over 15,000 people have ready discussed them. He
every four or five years. been detained since the appealed to participants
The review happened election, and rights activists on Monday not to turn the
to fall a day after thou- say over 100 of them are review on Belarus "only into
sands of protesters in the political prisoners. a discussion on the post-
Belarusian capital, Minsk, French ambassador Fran- election events."
swarmed the streets to de- cois Rivasseau said France "This is the prerogative of
mand the resignation of remained "extremely con- the Belarussian people,"
longtime President Alexan- cerned" by the rights situa- Ambrazevich said, accord-
der Lukashenko — the 13th tion in Belarus, calling on its ing to an official Russian
straight Sunday marked by government to release all interpreter. "Belarus wishes,
demonstrations against his people held arbitrarily. has the will, and has the
rule. Police used stun gre- Andrew Bremberg, the U.S. necessary instruments itself,
nades and fired warning ambassador to U.N. institu- peacefully, to restore civil-
Police detain a demonstrator during an opposition rally to shots in the air to break up tions in Geneva, called on ity in society based on a
protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, the crowds. Belarus to "cease its brutal balance of interests of our
Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. Lukashenko won his sixth crackdown against the Be- society as a whole."q
Associated Press term in an Aug. 9 elec- larusian people" and de-
By JAMEY KEATEN U.S. ambassador calling on tion that is widely seen as nounced as "fraudulent"
Associated Press authorities there to halt a rigged. Lukashenko's crush- the Aug. 9 presidential
GENEVA (AP) — Western "brutal crackdown." ing victory over his popular, elections.
nations decried arbitrary The comments on Belarus inexperienced challenger, Belarus ambassador Yury
arrests and other forms of came during a process Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Ambrazevich said there
repression in Belarus dur- known as the Universal Peri- has triggered the largest was a "complex situation"
ing a review of its record at odic Review at the Human and the most sustained in his country after the pres-
the U.N.'s top human rights Rights Council, in which ev- wave of mass protests of his idential elections, and said
body on Monday, with the ery country in the world has 26 years in power. officials in Belarus had al-