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Sunday, September 27, 2020
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting for decades for the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Now the conflict is intensifying. They shoot down helicopters, bombardments with dead civilians. Armenia imposes martial law.
After escalating fighting in the troubled Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Republic of Armenia in the South Caucasus has imposed martial law. This was announced by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan on Sunday. The pro-Armenian rebels had previously announced the general mobilization. The government army and pro-Armenian rebels are waging fierce fighting in the area. The rebels reported that the Azerbaijani army suffered “heavy losses”. The Armenian Defense Ministry, which supports the rebels, reported the shooting down of two Azerbaijani military helicopters and three drones.
The rebels said the Azerbaijani army had shelled the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is inhabited by the majority of Armenians. Targets in regional capital Stepanakert were also attacked. Civilians were also killed in the fighting, according to both parties.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said the army had launched a “counteroffensive” “to stop Armenia’s military activities and protect the safety of the people.” The Ministry spoke of a downed helicopter. “Let us firmly support our state and our army and we will win. Long live the glorious Armenian army,” wrote Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Facebook.
On the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia, tension with the fighting had recently renewed. In recent weeks, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has flared up again. Both parties accused each other of attacking towns in the border area. The last time there were fierce clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh was in April 2016. More than 100 people were killed. In 2010, the last major peace initiative between Yerevan and Baku failed.
The conflict has been latent for 30 years
The two Caucasus states, Armenia and Azerbaijan, have been in conflict over control of the region for almost 30 years. Nagorno-Karabakh, which is inhabited mainly by Armenians, was added to Azerbaijan during the Soviet era. Pro-Armenian rebels took control of the area after fighting with some 30,000 deaths in the early 1990s.
In 1991, Nagorno-Karabakh proclaimed its independence. However, internationally, the area is not yet recognized as an independent state. Azerbaijan wants to fully regain the region under its control, if necessary by force. The conflict is also between two former Soviet republics: Russia is on the side of Armenia, Turkey on the side of Azerbaijan. In August, both powers carried out military exercises in the region. As recently as the summer, the federal states had emphasized that the escalation that experts have long feared should not occur in the region. The countries said that the conflict must be resolved by peaceful means.
