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International pressure was mounting on Armenia and Azerbaijan to halt the fighting after at least 24 people were killed on Sunday in the most intense clashes between the two countries since 2016.
The clashes between the two former Soviet republics, which fought a war in the 1990s, were the latest outbreak of a long-running conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist region that lies within Azerbaijan but is run by people. of Armenian ethnicity.
Seventeen Armenian separatist fighters were killed and more than 100 wounded in the fighting, Karabakh President Araik Harutyunyan said, admitting that his forces had “lost positions”. Both parties also reported civilian casualties.
“We are tired of the threats from Azerbaijan, we will fight to the death to solve the problem once and for all,” Artak Bagdasaryan, 36, told the AFP news agency in Yerevan, adding that he was waiting to be recruited. in the army.
Karabakh separatists said an Armenian woman and a child were killed, while Baku said an Azerbaijani family of five was killed in a bombardment launched by Armenian separatists.
Azerbaijan claimed it captured a strategic mountain in Karabakh that helps control transportation communications between Yerevan and the enclave.
The clashes sparked a wave of diplomacy to reduce tension in a decades-long conflict between the Christian majority in Armenia and mainly Muslim Azerbaijan, amid fears the violence could spiral out of control.
“We are one step away from a full-scale war,” Olesya Vartanyan of the International Crisis Group told AFP.
“One of the main reasons for the current escalation is the lack of proactive international mediation between the parties for weeks,” he added.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States would seek to end the violence.
“We are watching it very carefully,” he told a news conference. “We have a lot of good relationships in that area. We’ll see if we can stop it. “
The US State Department condemned the violence in a statement, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and any rhetoric or other actions that could make the situation worse.
Democratic US presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement that the hostilities could escalate into a broader conflict and urged the Trump administration to push for more observers along the ceasefire line and that Russia “stop cynically providing arms to both sides.”
Nagorno-Karabakh was separated from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 after fighting that left 30,000 dead and forced many more to flee their homes.
Although a ceasefire was reached in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia are frequently accused of attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the separate border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
International diplomacy
Armenia said that Azerbaijani forces had attacked civilian targets, including the Nagorno-Karabakh capital Stepanakert, and promised a “proportionate response”.
“We stand strong alongside our military to protect our homeland from the Azeri invasion,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Twitter.
Azerbaijan denied a statement by the Armenian Defense Ministry saying that Azerbaijani helicopters and tanks had been destroyed, and accused Armenian forces of launching “deliberate and targeted” attacks along the front line.
“We defend our territory, our cause is right!” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a speech to the nation, echoing the words of Joseph Stalin at the outbreak of World War II in Russia. “Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” he said.
Both Armenia and Karabakh declared martial law and military mobilization. Azerbaijan imposed a military regime and a curfew in the big cities.
#NagornoKarabakhNo more ceasefire violations or border incidents. The war resumes. It is time for Russia, France and the US, individually and jointly, to stop it.
– Dmitri Trenin (@DmitriTrenin) September 27, 2020
Turkey said it was talking to members of the Minsk group, which mediates between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russia, France and the United States are co-chairs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Pashinyan by phone, but no details of the conversation were available, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Aliyev.
Erdogan, who pledged support for Azerbaijan’s traditional ally, called Armenia “the greatest threat to peace in the region” and called for “the entire world to support Azerbaijan in its battle against invasion and cruelty.”
Pashinyan responded, accusing Turkey of “dangerous behavior” and urging the international community to ensure that Turkey does not get involved in the conflict.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “extremely concerned” and called on the parties to stop fighting and return to talks.
The European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Pope Francis also urged both parties to halt military actions and return to negotiations.
At least 200 people were killed in an outbreak of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in April 2016. At least 16 people died in clashes in July.
Azerbaijan has pledged to take back the territory, by force if necessary, while Armenia has said it will do everything possible to defend the area.
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