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“We are on the brink of a full-scale war in the South Caucasus, which may have unpredictable consequences. The war may go beyond the borders of the region and spread,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in a televised message. to the nation.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in a state of war since 1991, although three years later they signed a ceasefire, in force until today, although with violations reported by both parties.
In his speech of just over seven minutes, Pashinian said “since this morning Nagorno Karabakh has been the victim of aggression by the Azerbaijani Army. The bombings affect the civilian population and the capital (of Nagorno Karabakh), Stepanakert.
Baku claims to have launched a “counteroffensive” after having recorded large-scale attacks by the Armenian Army against its positions and civilian settlements located on the front line of the conflict zone.
The Armenian leader assured that the country is prepared to respond to the Azerbaijani attack by being the “guarantor of security” of Nagorno Karabakh.
Pashinyan insisted that Armenia, with all the means and resources at its disposal, is ready to “guard its back” to Nagorno Karabakh.
Azerbaijan, determined to regain its territory
While Pashinyan addressed the nation, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev intervened before the Security Council of the Caucasian country, where he promised not to give in an iota in the long-running conflict with Armenia.
“We are in our land, we do not want that of others. But we will not give ours to anyone,” Aliyev told the country’s military leadership.
The Azerbaijani leader insisted that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict cannot have a “half-way” solution.
“We will never allow the creation of the so-called ‘second Armenian state’ on Azerbaijani territory. Today’s events are proof of this,” he said while calling for the restoration of “historical justice” and the “territorial integrity of the country” in such a way. so that the Azerbaijani people are satisfied.
War bells
The escalation in Nagorno Karabakh led Armenia to decree martial law and general mobilization throughout its territory, an exceptional measure that had not occurred during other periods of increased tension between the two countries, such as the so-called “war of the four days “of April 2016.
Pashinian explained that this decision was approved because Azerbaijan can begin “military actions in the direction of the Armenian border and resort to provocations to destabilize the situation in the region.”
A few hours later, the President of Azerbaijan also signed a decree on the declaration of martial law throughout the country as of tomorrow, September 28.
The document also provides for the imposition of a night curfew in several cities, including the capital, which will be in force from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. local time.
Casualties on both sides
According to Baku, five Azerbaijani citizens have been killed in clashes in the conflict zone. The number of those injured by the Armenian attacks, according to the country’s Prosecutor’s Office, amounts to 19 people among the civilian population.
Armenia in turn reported 16 soldiers killed and more than a hundred wounded as a result of the bombardments by Azerbaijani forces.
According to the Nagorno Karabakh ombudsman, there are also fatalities among the civilian population in the area, including at least one woman and one girl.
The situation led the authorities of the separatist enclave to begin evacuating the population from various locations near the line of fire.
The Turkish factor
The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Foreign Ministry of that country promised this Sunday “full support” to Baku in its confrontation with Yerevan for control of Nagorno Karabakh, a statement that was strongly condemned by Armenia.
“The Turkish nation is today, as it has always been, with all its possibilities by the side of its brother Azerbaijan,” Erdogan wrote on Twitter.
The Armenian Prime Minister declared in this regard that Ankara’s “aggressive” stance threatens “catastrophic” consequences for the entire South Caucasus and neighboring regions.
Pashinyan called on the international community to exert its influence on Turkey to dissuade it from interfering in the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, which “will definitely destabilize” the situation, he said.
International concern
Russia, one of the mediators for the settlement of the long-standing conflict within the framework of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), urged this Sunday for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh.
The respective appeal was made both in a telephone conversation between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, with Pashinyan, and by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergey Lavrov, with his two counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“The situation in the Nagorno Karabakh area has deteriorated considerably. We urge the parties to cease fire and begin negotiations in order to stabilize the situation,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, as did the Minsk Group.
The escalation of tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan also caused great concern among other members of the international community, many of whom issued statements calling on the parties for peace.
Thus, the European Union (EU) urged the parties to the conflict to return to “negotiations without preconditions” and abandon all military hostility.
Some countries in the region, such as Georgia and Iran, also offered their mediation to the conflict parties to achieve peace in the region.
The origin of the conflict
The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict dates back to the times of the Soviet Union, when at the end of the 1980s the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno Karabakh, populated mainly by Armenians, requested its incorporation into neighboring Armenia, after which a war broke out which caused some 25,000 deaths.
At the end of the fighting, the Armenian forces took control of the Karabakh and also occupied vast Azerbaijani territories, which they call “security strip”, to unite it with Armenia.
Azerbaijan maintains that the solution to the conflict with Armenia necessarily involves the liberation of the occupied territories, a demand that has been supported by several resolutions of the UN Security Council.
Armenia, for its part, supports the right to self-determination of Nagorno Karabakh and advocates the participation of representatives of the separatist territory in the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict.
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