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The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement that it had launched a “front-line counteroffensive” to “end the military activities of the Armenian armed forces and ensure the safety of the civilian population.” And it indicates that one of its helicopters has been shot down but that its crew is safe and sound. It also claims to have destroyed 12 anti-aircraft batteries.
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Armenia and Azerbaijan, the hidden conflict that can ignite the Moscow-Ankara tension
“Early this morning, the Azerbaijani side shelled the entire front line. They are also bombing Stepanakert (the capital), we are asking the population to take refuge,” the separatist presidential spokesman said on his Facebook page.
“The Karabakh Armed Forces have so far defeated the (Azerbaijani) plans, causing heavy casualties to the opponent,” the region’s Defense Ministry said.
The Armenian Defense Ministry, which supports the separatist forces, said that two Azerbaijani helicopters had been shot down along with a drone.
Nagorno Karabakh President Araik Harutyunyan, at an emergency meeting of the parliament of the Armenia-backed Azerbaijani separatist region, proclaimed martial law and announced a full military mobilization after fierce border clashes with the Azerbaijani army. . Both the Baku government and the Armenian authorities in Yerevan reported that the clashes also resulted in civilian casualties.
Moscow calls for an immediate ceasefire
The Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergei Viktorovi? Lavrov called on the two conflicting parties for an “immediate ceasefire”. Moscow also called for “talks to stabilize the situation.”
The region at the center of the conflict
Nagorno Karabakh is a secessionist region of Azerbaijan, populated mainly by Armenians and backed by Armenia. It was the scene of a war in the early 1990s that resulted in 30,000 deaths and since then the Azerbaijani authorities have tried to regain control, by force if necessary. The peace talks have been on hold for years.
Azerbaijan insists on regaining its territorial integrity, while Armenia defends the interests of the self-proclaimed republic.
The conflict saw an escalation of violence in April 2016 and although a new ceasefire has been agreed, sporadic clashes continue to be recorded in the border area Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday he threatened Armenia with retaliation for its “aggressive behavior”, in reference to the July clashes, and accused Yerevan “deliberately failing” in the Karabakh peace negotiations. She also claimed that Armenia was preparing “tens of thousands of men with a single objective, to attack Azerbaijan.”
Baku took advantage of its huge oil reserves to buy weapons. And on the other hand, Armenia, much poorer, is closer to Russia that has a military base there.
Yerevan is also part of a Moscow-led political-military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The Kremlin, which acts as arbiter in the region, supplies arms to both countries. And for almost 30 years he managed to avoid open warfare.
To push for a negotiated solution to the conflict, the so-called Minsk Group was established in 1994, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France. The group also includes Germany, Belarus, Finland, Italy, Sweden and Turkey, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the OECD “troika”, the countries that represent the current, previous and next presidencies.
