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Long-running clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region resumed after deadly fighting on Sunday (09/29) that left at least 23 dead and another 100 injured.
New conflicts are causing global concern, while fears of war are being expressed. A large-scale armed conflict involving Azerbaijan and Armenia could provoke the intervention of rival forces in the Caucasus region, Russia and Turkey. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which was separated from Azerbaijan with the support of Armenia, has been fueling regional tensions for 30 years.
Your disputed area Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a region of Azerbaijan that has separated from the rest of the country, is inhabited mainly by Armenians and is supported by Armenia. The region is disputed, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but most of the region is under the control of the Republic of Artsakh (in February 2017 known as the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh), a de facto independent state with a majority Armenia.
Information on Syrian fighters
The Armenian Defense Ministry announced late Sunday (09/27) that it is examining information according to which Syrian fighters are fighting on the side of the Azeris, in the clashes that broke out in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Hikmet Hajiyev, the Azeri president’s foreign policy adviser, dismissed the information as “nonsense.”
This information comes from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain and has been monitoring developments on the Syrian front since the start of the war in 2011.
Armenian forces destroy Azerbaijani tanks
AP
Martial law in Armenia – Azerbaijan
The Azerbaijani parliament, during an extraordinary session on Sunday (09/29), approved the declaration of martial law and a curfew in many areas and cities due to escalating hostilities.
The plan calls for martial law in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, as well as cities such as Ganja and Goigol.
Earlier, Armenia ordered the full mobilization of the army by declaring martial law by decision of the country’s prime minister, Nicole Parsinian.
“By decision of the government martial law and general mobilization are declared in the Republic of Armenia. I call on all the personnel of the troops to appear in their regional committees. For the homeland, for victory,” he wrote in Twitter the Prime Minister of Armenia.
Call on the United States to end hostilities
The United States tonight urged Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh separatists to “immediately cease hostilities” in this controversial enclave.
State Department “No. 2” Steven Bigan called on both sides to immediately end the conflict “to use direct communication to avoid further escalation and avoid any action or statement that incites tensions in the region” . , refers to the announcement issued by the US Department of State.
NATO calls for an “immediate cessation of hostilities”
The EU, Germany, NATO and France have also called for an end to hostilities.
A senior NATO official has called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to immediately end hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The two sides “must immediately end the conflict,” said James Appathurai, Special Representative of the NATO Secretary General for the Caucasus and Central Asia. He also called for the resumption of talks on a peaceful settlement. “NATO supports the efforts of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,” he added.
The Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States, was created in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Azerbaijani forces destroy Armenian anti-aircraft system
AP
The UN secretary general calls for an end to the conflict
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on the Nagorno-Karabakh separatists backed by Azerbaijan and Armenia to “immediately stop fighting” in the disputed region.
Guterres called on all parties to escalate tensions and return to the negotiating table without delay, said his spokesman Stefan Duzaric.
According to Duzaric, Guterres intends to speak with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nicole Pasinian. “The secretary general is very concerned about the recent resumption of hostilities and condemns the use of force,” he added.
Guterres supported the Minsk Group, the mediation effort of France, Russia and the United States, and urged rival parties to “work closely” with those countries to resume unconditional dialogue.
Armenian forces destroy Azerbaijani tanks
AP
A forgotten conflict
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced on Sunday (September 29) that it had launched a “complete counterattack at the front” in Karabakh aimed at “ending the military activities of the Armed Forces of Armenia”.
The Karabakh Defense Ministry, on the other hand, says it has destroyed four helicopters, 15 drones and 10 Azeri tanks.
A video posted by Yerevan shows two Azeri tanks firing and thick smoke rising alongside three other tanks.
Baku admitted that one of its helicopters was shot down, adding that the crew was rescued. It also says it destroyed 12 anti-aircraft batteries. And the Azerbaijani army has released a video showing the destruction of three enemy military vehicles from above.
Nagorno-Karabakh is the scene of a war that started in the early 1990s and claimed the lives of 30,000 people. Baku wants to regain control of the region, which no country has recognized as an independent democracy. The peace talks have been stalled for years. There are frequent clashes between separatists and Azeris, but also between Armenians and Azeris, the most recent last July.
Alessia Vartanian, an expert at the International Crisis Group, said the new escalation was mainly due to the lack of an active international mediation effort to end the conflict. “After the pandemic broke out, ‘the conflict was forgotten and diplomats (mediators) did not go to Baku and Yerevan even after the July clashes,” he explained.
In recent years, Azerbaijan has used its oil revenues to buy weapons. Armenia, a much poorer country, is nevertheless closer to Russia, which has a military base on its territory. Yerevan also belongs to a Russian-led civil-military union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Russia, which rivals Turkey in the region, sells arms to both countries.
Armenian forces destroy Azerbaijani tanks
AP
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