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The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the controversial Nagorno-Karabakh Caucasus region has flared again for a good four weeks. Three truces had recently failed and new negotiations are planned to resolve the conflict in Geneva on Friday. Now local authorities are reporting the most violent attacks by the Azerbaijani armed forces since the fighting began four weeks ago.
“Azerbaijan attacked Stepanakert for several hours,” Nagorno-Karabakh ombudsman Artak Beglaryan told AFP. Civilians were also injured in the attacks, Beglaryan said. These were the “most intense” airstrikes since the fighting began in late September.
The “enemy” at the gates
Stepanakert is the regional capital of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Armenian sources, the cities of Shuschi and Martakert were also massively shot. Azerbaijan is committing “crimes against humanity”, said the Armenian Foreign Ministry in Yerevan. Regional President Arayik Harutyunyan addressed the population in a video that was posted on Facebook that night. The “enemy” is only a few kilometers from Shusha, “at most five kilometers,” he said. Azerbaijan’s goal is apparently to “take” the city.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been claiming Nagorno-Karabakh for decades: Azerbaijan lost control of the area with around 145,000 inhabitants in a war after the collapse of the Soviet Union some 30 years ago. Since 1994 there has been a fragile ceasefire.
The region is controlled by Armenia, but under international law it belongs to Islamic Azerbaijan, which can rely on its “sister state” Turkey in the conflict. Russia is the protecting power of Armenia. Observers fear that the current conflict could turn into an indirect war between Russia and Turkey in the Caucasus.
Armenia receives dead soldiers from Azerbaijan
The situation had recently eased. Before negotiations scheduled for Friday, Azerbaijan handed over 30 dead soldiers and officers to Armenia. Azerbaijani presidential adviser Hikmet Hajiyev announced on Thursday. The Armenian Defense Ministry in the capital Yerevan confirmed the reception of the dead and indicated that it was ready to hand over the soldiers who died to Azerbaijan.
According to official figures from both parties to the conflict, more than 1,200 people, including more than 130 civilians, have died since the fighting began in September. In fact, the number of deaths is likely to be significantly higher. Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken of nearly 5,000 killed in the fighting last week.
