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In the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of violating the ceasefire agreed yesterday. Fighting is said to have broken out again in the South Caucasus region.
In the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of breaking the ceasefire agreed the night before.
The ceasefire should take effect at midnight – 10:00 pm Central European Time. Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire a week ago through the mediation of Russia. However, this agreement was broken shortly after its entry into force. Both countries blamed each other for this.
Guilt and fire reports
Both parties accused each other of violating the ceasefire and denounced clashes. Azerbaijan on Saturday accused Armenia of killing 13 civilians in the bombing of the city of Ganja and wounding more than 50 people.
Armenia, in turn, reported rocket attacks by Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh capital, Stepanakert. At least three civilians were injured. Information from the conflict region cannot be independently verified.
Appeals from Moscow, Brussels and Berlin
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged both sides to adhere to the agreed ceasefire. 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,” said a spokesman for the EU Foreign Affairs Representative, Josep Borrell. 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.
Imminent expansion of the conflict
The majority of Armenian Christians live in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the southern Caucasus; the leadership there is supported by the Armenian government in Yerevan. Under international law, the area belongs to predominantly Islamic Azerbaijan, which it renounced in 1991.
Since Armenia is allied with Russia and Azerbaijan has the support of Turkey, the conflict threatens to spread beyond the region with far-reaching consequences for the economy. Important oil and gas pipelines run through the southern Caucasus.
The current fighting began on September 27 and is the most severe since the 1991-1994 war that killed some 30,000 people.
