Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: new ceasefire attempt – politics –

In the conflict over the South Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan are making a new ceasefire attempt. On Sunday night at midnight local time (10 pm CEST), a “humanitarian ceasefire” should take effect. The foreign ministries of both countries announced it on Saturday night. A week ago, both sides agreed to a ceasefire with the mediation of Russia. However, this agreement was broken shortly after its entry into force. Both countries blamed each other for this.

Previously there had been new fights with deaths and injuries. Azerbaijan reported heavy attacks by Armenia on Saturday night in Ganja, the country’s second largest city. The civil protection ministry of the capital Baku announced that 13 people were killed in the rocket fire. Armenia also blamed the neighboring country for the attacks.

Azerbaijan spoke of 50 injured in Ganja. The bodies were found, for example, under the rubble of destroyed houses. It is said that there were children among them. Images distributed by Azerbaijan showed rescuers searching for survivors in destroyed houses. Search dogs were also used. Authorities spoke of considerable damage.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called the attack a war crime on television and threatened to hold the Armenian leadership accountable. Armenia, however, rejected a responsibility and, in return, accused its belligerent neighbor of being behind the attack and of using it as “propaganda” against the Armenians.

Armenia, in turn, reported rocket attacks by Azerbaijan, including the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. At least three civilians were injured in Stepanakert. Both parties accused each other of having violated the ceasefire again.

In the evening, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged both parties to respect the agreement. According to his Ministry in Moscow, he called his colleagues from Azerbaijan and Armenia, Jeyhun Bayramov and Sohrab Mnazakanjan.

Lavrov recalled that the ceasefire also served humanitarian reasons. In addition, both sides had declared their readiness for “substantial negotiations” with the aim of reaching a peace agreement as quickly as possible, he said.

The EU also again called on both parties to respect the ceasefire. “All attacks on civilians and civilian facilities must come to an end,” a spokesman for the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Saturday. The European Union regrets the bombing of the Azerbaijani city of Ganja.

The Foreign Ministry in Berlin called on both countries to “return immediately to the path of a peaceful and lasting resolution of the conflict.” Furthermore, people affected by the conflict should now be helped.

Information from the conflict region cannot be independently verified. The Azerbaijani army announced that it had shot down an Armenian fighter plane. The Armenian Defense Ministry immediately denied this and stated that it had shot down two drones on the opposite side.

Azerbaijan reported new territorial gains at the front. Aliyev also said that his army had taken control of the city of Fizuli and seven surrounding villages. This region borders Nagorno-Karabakh and was occupied by Armenia.

The two former Soviet republics have been fighting for decades over the mountainous region of about 145,000 people. Armenia controls Nagorno-Karabakh, but under international law it belongs to Islamic Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost control of the area in a war that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union some 30 years ago. Since 1994 there has been a fragile ceasefire.

Thousands of people have fled the mountainous region, which is inhabited predominantly by Armenian Christians from Karabakh. The Armenian Defense Ministry said that more than 600 soldiers had been killed since the new fighting began on September 27. So far, Azerbaijan has not provided information on losses in its armed forces. More than 50 civilians were killed in Armenian attacks.