Clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani armies have displaced half the population of the worthless Nagorno-Karabakh region as international mediators prepare to hold their first meeting in Geneva, according to its rights ombudsman.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an end to the “huge tragedy” in an interview with state-run television on Wednesday, as the main city of Karabakh, Stepanekart, and Armenia said fighting was raging across the front.
If the long-running conflict over ethnic Armenian separatist territory cannot be resolved, a ceasefire must be agreed “as soon as possible,” the man said.
A few hours later, Azerbaijan said its foreign minister, Jehun Byramov, would visit Geneva on Thursday and meet with leaders of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group, which is jointly chaired by diplomats from France, Russia and the United States. .
A much-delayed conflict erupted after the collapse of the Soviet Union on September 27, urging Azerbaijan to return to its territory.
Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artrun Hovaninis told reporters, quoting Russia’s Tass news agency, that the “fighting all day, along the entire front line and at the moment” continued with heavy fighting south of Karabakh.
Intermittent firing by Azerbaijani forces has turned Stepanekart into a ghost town filled with indiscriminate explosions and shell pits.
With a strong population of 50,000 left in Stepnecart, hunters are left in the rest of the cellars.
“According to our initial estimates, about 50% of Karabakh’s population and and 0% of women and children – or about 1,000,000-75,000,000 people have been displaced,” Karabakh rights ombudsman Artak Beglarayan told AFP on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan has been accused by Armenian forces of firing on civilian targets in urban areas, including its second-largest city, Ganja.
Dozens of civilians have been confirmed dead in the fighting, and the Armenian side has acknowledged the deaths of more than 300 soldiers. Azerbaijan has not admitted any casualties among its troops.
Azerbaijani lawyers say 427 homes inhabited by about 1,200 people have been destroyed.
The Minsk group of the OSCE has been trying to resolve the conflict since the 1990s.
Armenia has denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating “Similar, baseless allegations concerning Armenia’s foreign ministry have been made more than once.
Russia announced that its Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had held talks with both its Armenian and Azerbaijani sides on Wednesday evening, without giving any details.
Conflict has erupted over regional powers, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warning that Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan risks escalating the “internationalization” of the conflict.
Speaking in the French parliament, Le Drian accused Azerbaijan of initiating the current conflict and lamented that “a large number of civilians had suffered for” minor progress “on the ground.
Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan in a war in the early 1990s that killed about 30,000 people. Armenian separatists declare independence.
After the Azerbaijanis left during the war, the region now has a population of about 100,000,000 Armenians.
However, the international community considers it part of Azerbaijan and no state, including Armenia, recognizes its independence.
Sporadic fighting has erupted frequently since the May 1994 ceasefire, especially in 2016.
But analysts say this time around, Turkey’s involvement has changed the landscape.
Turkey has reportedly sent pro-Ankara Syrian fighters to augment the Azerbaijani army and has also successfully deployed home-made drones already deployed in Libya and Syria.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 1,200 fighters have been dispatched and at least 64 have died.
“The new aspect is the military involvement by Turkey that risks increasing the internationalization of the conflict,” Le Drian said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that the world should support Azerbaijan as a “side of the right people”, calling Armenia an “occupier.”
Russia has cordial relations and sells arms to both sides. But it has a military base in Armenia and Yerevan is a member of the Russian-led regional security group while Baku is not.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he was confident that Russia would come to his aid because of the two countries’ membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CTSO).
Putin stressed in his interview that Moscow would fulfill its obligations, which analysts sometimes describe as Russian NATO.
But he noted: “The animosity, which continues to this day for our regret, is not happening on Armenian territory.”
.
