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The Armenian separatist forces of Nagorno Karabakh and the Azerbaijani army accused each other of bombing civilian areas on Sunday, on the second day of a truce that seems to have expired.
In the afternoon, no exchange of prisoners or bodies of dead soldiers was announced, one of the objectives of the ceasefire negotiated in Moscow that was due to take effect on Saturday at 0800 GMT (1200 local time).
Azerbaijan accused the Armenian separatists of not complying with the terms of the truce and accused them of having bombed Ganyá, the country’s second largest city, overnight, an attack that killed at least nine civilians.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev denounced on Twitter a “flagrant violation of the ceasefire” and a “war crime”.
“The Armenian armed forces do not respect the humanitarian truce and continue to fire rockets and artillery against cities and towns in Azerbaijan,” a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, Vaguif Dyargahly, told AFP. Repeated accusations by the Azerbaijani army.
Along the same lines, his Armenian counterpart, Shushan Stepanian, expressed: “In violation of the ceasefire agreement, the Azerbaijani forces lead assaults to the south, using armored vehicles and missiles. [separatistas] they have resolutely suppressed all enemy operations. “
In Ganyá, AFP journalists saw Azerbaijani rescuers working through the rubble of a building, from which they extracted two bodies.
In total, nine apartments were destroyed, according to witnesses, by a projectile at 0200 local time (2200 GMT on Saturday).
Mutual accusations
“A stone fell on my face, I opened my eyes and another stone fell on me. I said to myself, what is all this … and I could not see anything, everything was a cloud of dust,” explained a neighbor, Akifa Bayramova, 64 years.
“They are barbarians, they are not human. The war is waged with soldiers, and we are civilians. We were sleeping,” denounced another neighbor, Zaguit Aliev, 68 years old.
Nagorno Karabakh authorities denied having bombed Ganyá. The president of the self-proclaimed republic, Arayik Harutyunyan, assured on Sunday morning that his troops respected the “ceasefire agreement” and considered that the situation was “calmer” than the day before.
Stepanakert was the target of at least three series of bombings during the night, according to AFP journalists. In the afternoon, the noise of heavy artillery fire was heard.
Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian, who negotiated the truce with his Azerbaijani counterpart, will return to Moscow on Monday to meet with the head of Russian diplomacy Sergey Lavrov.
The latter’s spokesman told AFP that a meeting with the co-presidents of the Minsk Group (Russia, France and the United States), which acts as mediator in the conflict, is also scheduled, although there is still no date set.
On Sunday, the Turkish and Russian foreign ministers urged, according to a statement issued by Russia at the end of a telephone conversation, “the need to rigorously respect all the provisions” of the agreement.
For its part, the European Union expressed “concern” on Sunday about the ceasefire violations.
“We note with extreme concern the reports that military activities continue, including against civilian targets, and of civilian casualties,” the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell said in a statement, urging the parties to “participate without delay in negotiations under the auspices of the Minsk Group. “
Pope Francis also lamented “too fragile a truce.”
Hundreds of dead
Nagorno Karabakh is a territory populated mainly by Armenians that gained independence from Azerbaijan after a war that caused 30,000 deaths in the 1990s. Since then, Baku has accused Yerevan of occupying its territory and outbreaks of violence often break out.
The current clashes, which broke out on September 27, are the deadliest since the ceasefire declared in 1994. At the moment, there have been about 500 deaths, including about 60 civilians, although the balance could be much higher, as Azerbaijan it does not report its casualties and both sides claim that thousands of rival soldiers were killed.
The truce agreed in Moscow came after multiple calls from the international community, especially from the Minsk Group.
Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, warned that it will not cease its military operations until Armenia withdraws from the breakaway region.
Nagorno Karabakh is a region in which Russians, Turks, Iranians and Westerners have interests, so it is feared that the conflict will internationalize.
Turkey has already been accused of participating with men and arms in the conflict, supporting Azerbaijan, although Baku denies it.
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