The failure of a third ceasefire attempt in Karabakh

Yesterday, a third attempt to end fighting between the Azerbaijani army and Armenian forces in the Nagorno Karabakh region failed, while the two sides exchanged accusations of “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire negotiated in Washington. It was decided that this “humanitarian truce” in the mountainous region of the Caucasus would come into effect yesterday, at eight in the morning local time (0400 GMT), but the two parties to the conflict immediately reported its violation, as it happened in both previous attempts, during recent weeks.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry accused the Armenian forces of bombing the city of Tartar and neighboring villages, as well as the positions of the Baku army, affirming, for its part, the “strict respect” of the agreement. Hikmat Hajiyev, assistant to the president of Azerbaijan, said: “This shows once again that Armenia only supports the principle of a humanitarian truce in words. In fact, he is hiding behind the truce and trying to regroup (his forces) and try to control new locations. On the other hand, the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Ministry condemned the anti-artillery bombardment of its positions in various areas of the front, highlighting that its forces “continue to fully adhere to the ceasefire.” According to the delegate in charge of human rights in Nagorno Karabakh, a civilian was killed and two others were injured yesterday in an Azerbaijani missile attack on a city in the region.
This agreement was negotiated over the weekend in Washington, in the middle of the re-election campaign of US President Donald Trump. The latter promised that he would “find a solution” to this conflict, stressing that it would be “easy”. The first truce was reached between Yerevan and Baku in Moscow on October 10, while the second truce was announced in Paris on October 17, but was not maintained. This indicates the inability of the international parties concerned, so far, to push for a peaceful solution to the conflict, or even a permanent armistice, at a time when neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan have shown flexibility. In this context, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last week ruled out any “diplomatic solution” to the conflict, and called for volunteers to join the front line.

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