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For its part, Armenia, according to an official spokesperson, ruled out any meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian ministers in Geneva, because “it is not possible to negotiate on the one hand and carry out military operations on the other”, denouncing the Azerbaijani “aggression” against Karabakh . He did not clarify whether the Armenian Foreign Minister would go to Geneva to attend a separate meeting with the heads of the “Minsk Group”, which has been trying unsuccessfully for almost thirty years to resolve the conflict. As for the Geneva meeting, the French Foreign Ministry limited itself to confirming “consultations at the level of the heads of the Minsk Group.” However, the Armenian minister is scheduled to arrive in Moscow on October 12 to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
At this time, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with state television “Russia” broadcast by the Kremlin, considered what was happening as “a tremendous tragedy. People are dying. We hope that this conflict will stop as soon as possible.” . And added Putin, who held the first telephone conversations. With his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev: “If this conflict cannot be stopped permanently, because we are far from that, then we ask at least, and I emphasize, a ceasefire”, and stressed that “this must be achieved as soon as possible.”
So far Russia has distanced itself from the conflict and maintains good relations with the two arms supplying parties, but it is closer to Armenia, a member of a Moscow-dominated military alliance. However, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a veiled warning to Azerbaijan against expanding the conflict, recalling his military alliance with the Russian older brother. In an interview with Agence France-Presse, he said: “I am sure that Russia will fulfill its obligations if the situation demands it.” This was confirmed by Putin during the televised interview, when he declared that Russia “will respect its obligations within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization”, adding that the clashes “do not take place on the territory of Armenia”, but on the lands. from Nagorno-Karabakh, the region supported by Yerevan. But in the event that the conflict spreads to Armenian lands, this may lead Russia to intervene, especially since it has a base in Armenia. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov was more forthcoming, saying that Russia’s obligations under the treaty “do not include Karabakh.” He noted that the presence of Syrian fighters represents “a great danger and a matter of great concern for Russia.”
Rouhani stressed that his country will not tolerate the presence of “terrorists” on its borders.
In a related context, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani affirmed that his country will not tolerate the presence of “terrorists” on its borders, in the context of the conflict between its neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan, warning that it will turn into a “regional war” . Rouhani’s remarks come after allegations from many countries that Azerbaijan-supporting Turkey has transferred members of groups loyal to it in northern Syria to fight alongside Baku forces. The Iranian president said, in a televised speech during an Iranian government meeting: “It is unacceptable to us that some people want to transfer terrorists from Syria and elsewhere to areas close to our borders, under various pretexts. We were clear in informing our two neighbors, Azerbaijan and Armenia ”.
Earlier, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed that Turkey intervened “militarily” in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict together with Azerbaijan, reiterating his country’s fears of “internationalizing” the conflict. In a statement to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, Le Drian said: “What is new in the matter is the presence of a military intervention by Turkey, which may lead to fuel the internationalization of the conflict.” He regretted that “there has been a large number of civilian casualties to achieve slight advances in the territories by Azerbaijan, since Azerbaijan started the conflict.”
Meanwhile, shelling by Azerbaijani forces has turned Stepanakert, Karabakh’s main city, into a ghost town filled with unexploded ordnance and shell craters. Artak Bulgarian, the official in charge of the Karabakh wartime civil rights archive, said: “According to our initial estimates, about fifty percent of Karabakh’s population has been displaced, which is equivalent to about seventy to 75 thousand people”.
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