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Baku / Yerevan – On Monday, Armenia and Azerbaijan exchanged accusations of violating the new ceasefire that the United States negotiated to stop fighting in the Nagorno Karabakh enclave, raising questions about the chances of success of the latest international effort to end the clashes they last for almost a month.
And a third truce in two weeks went into effect at 8:00 am local time. Within minutes, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement that Armenian forces shelled villages in the Tartar and Lachin regions. The Karabakh Defense Ministry denied this, saying that Azerbaijani forces launched a missile attack on Armenian military positions on the northeast side of the line of contact.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement that Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire around 9 am local time.
Recent clashes broke out in Karabakh, a mountainous region of Azerbaijan inhabited and controlled by ethnic Armenians, on September 27. The fighting is the worst in the South Caucasus region since the 1990s, and two truces, brokered by Russia, have not maintained a ceasefire between the two sides.
The world powers seek to prevent the outbreak of a broader war in which Turkey, which has declared its strong support for Azerbaijan, and Russia, which has concluded a defense treaty with Armenia, may participate. The conflict has strained relations between Ankara and its NATO partners.
US efforts to defuse tension in Karabakh collide with Turkey’s incitement of its ally Baku to move forward with the option of a military solution rather than a peaceful settlement, complicating the crisis and pressing for its prolongation.
Baku finds in Turkish support and Western reluctance driven by geopolitical calculations a favorable opportunity to impose its options to resolve the crisis, after Ankara strengthened the combat fronts by sending Syrian mercenaries.
A few days ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied allegations of sending Ankara-backed Syrian fighters to Karabakh to fight alongside Azerbaijan against Armenian separatist forces.
During a speech in Ankara, Erdogan emphasized that “some tell us that you sent Syrian (fighters) there. We do not have such intentions, they have a lot to do in their country, they will not go to Nagorno Karabakh.
Several countries, including France, confirmed in recent weeks that Syrian fighters are participating in the ongoing fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan around Karabakh, where the majority of Armenians are located. On Monday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said: “The Turkish F-16s arrived in Azerbaijan in the past for joint exercises and that in case of being exposed to external attack, they will show themselves.”
The latest ceasefire agreement was reached on Sunday after talks in Washington between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts.
Representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group, formed to mediate the conflict and led by France, Russia and the United States, also participated in the talks. The group said its heads and foreign ministers agreed to meet again in Geneva on October 29.
Karabakh province said 974 of its soldiers have died since Sept. 27, and Azerbaijan says 65 Azerbaijani civilians have died, but has not disclosed their military losses.
