Violence erupts in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the military on both sides accuse each other of the great escalation.
Armenia has declared martial law and ordered its armed forces to mobilize after a major outbreak of violence with Azerbaijan in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Intense fighting broke out Sunday between the two arch-enemies, who blamed each other for the escalation that led to reports of casualties.
Armenia accused neighboring Azerbaijan of attacking civilian settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but controlled by Armenian forces, including the main city of Stepanakert. The Armenian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down two Azerbaijani helicopters and three drones in response to an attack that it said began at 04:10 GMT.
But the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said it launched a “counteroffensive to suppress the combat activity of Armenia and ensure the safety of the population”, using tanks, artillery missiles, combat aviation and drones. The ministry said that an Azerbaijani helicopter had been shot down but its crew had survived.
“There are reports of deaths and injuries among civilians and the military,” Hikmet Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani presidency, said in a statement.
In a statement on Facebook, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that “the government has decided to declare martial law and full mobilization,” telling citizens to “prepare to defend our sacred homeland.”
Meanwhile, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a televised address to the nation that “there are losses between the Azerbaijani forces and the civilian population as a result of the Armenian bombardment.”
He warned that those who use intimidation tactics against his country will regret it, adding that Azerbaijan defends its lands and Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to it.
In Nagorno-Karabakh, where officials also declared martial law and ordered citizens to mobilize, ombudsman Artak Beglaryan said “there are civilian casualties” among the population of the region. Separately, a spokesman for the Armenian defense ministry said that an Armenian woman and child had been killed in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Al Jazeera’s Robin Forestier-Walker, who has covered the long-running conflict extensively, described Sunday’s outbreak as “a very serious escalation.”
The worst fighting in years has raised the specter of a new full-scale war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which have been locked for decades in a territorial dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ethnic Armenians in the region declared independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, sparking a war that killed some 30,000 people and left Nagorno-Karabakh out of Baku’s control.
Although a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia frequently accuse each other of attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the separate Azerbaijani-Armenian border.
Talks to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute have largely stalled since the ceasefire agreement.
The Minsk Group, which includes France, Russia and the United States, has worked to mediate the dispute, but the last big push for a peace deal collapsed in 2010.
Russia on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire and the start of talks. “We call on the parties to immediately stop the fire and begin talks to stabilize the situation,” her Foreign Ministry said.
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tweeted: “Armenia has violated the ceasefire by attacking civilian settlements … The international community must immediately say to stop this dangerous provocation.”
In July, heavy fighting along the two countries’ shared border, hundreds of kilometers from Nagorno-Karabakh, killed at least 17 soldiers from both sides.
