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Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
© APA (AFP / Government of Armenia)
Despite international calls for restraint, the struggle between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region continues. According to their defense ministries, both sides fired on each other with heavy artillery fire on Monday night. Azerbaijan ordered a partial mobilization of the population, Armenia had already done it on Sunday for all male citizens. Furthermore, both countries have imposed martial law.
In the heaviest fighting since 2016, numerous people were killed on Sunday. Nagorno-Karabakh spoke of 31 dead on his side. According to the Interfax agency, around 200 Armenians were also injured. Azerbaijan reported six civilians killed and 19 wounded on its side.
China called on both sides to enter into a dialogue. Russia and the EU had already asked the warring parties on Sunday to lay down their weapons. The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. According to their own statements, the United States government also contacted both parties and asked the parties to the conflict to stop the fighting immediately. The US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, James Gilmore, also urged both sides to withdraw to their positions ahead of Sunday’s escalation. As part of the Minsk Group, led by Russia, the United States, and France, the OSCE has been mediating the Karabakh conflict since the early 1990s.
The Interfax agency quoted the Armenian ambassador to Russia as saying that Turkey had sent around 4,000 fighters from northern Syria to Azerbaijan. The Ria agency reported that the ambassador said that the fighters would be deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan denied the accusations.
Turkey called on Armenia on Sunday to end hostilities. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to “increase” solidarity with Azerbaijan’s traditional ally after a phone call with President Ilham Aliyev. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. He called on the international community to prevent Turkey from interfering in the conflict. Russia supports Armenia militarily and economically.
Both parties to the conflict have accused each other of being responsible for the escalation. Azerbaijan said that Armenia had fired on Nagorno-Karabakh from the air and with artillery. The company’s own troops then destroyed three tanks on the opposite side and shot down two helicopters and three drones. Azerbaijan disagreed and said it responded to an Armenian attack.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Azerbaijan have again argued over the membership of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is inhabited mainly by Armenians and separated from Azerbaijan in 1991, but which still belongs to Azerbaijan under international law. The West and the countries of the region are concerned about the conflict, as it threatens to destabilize the southern Caucasus. Important oil and gas pipelines pass there. Although predominantly Christian Armenia and predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire in 1994, both sides routinely blame each other for attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the common border. At least 200 people died in April 2016 when the conflict broke out again.
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