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Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a Russian-brokered ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting Saturday (local time), but immediately accused each other of derailing the agreement aimed at ending the worst outbreak of hostilities in the separatist region in more than a year. room. century.
The two sides exchanged blame for breaking the truce that went into effect at noon with new attacks, and Azerbaijan’s top diplomat said the truce never came into effect.
The ceasefire announcement came overnight after 10 hours of talks in Moscow sponsored by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The agreement stipulated that the ceasefire should pave the way for talks on resolving the conflict.
Uncredited / AP
In this image taken from a video released by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, soldiers walk in formation on a road during a military conflict in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region.
If the truce holds, it would mark a major diplomatic coup for Russia, which has a security pact with Armenia but has also cultivated warm ties with Azerbaijan. But the deal was immediately challenged over mutual claims of violations.
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Minutes after the truce took effect, the Armenian army accused Azerbaijan of shelling the area near the city of Kapan in southeastern Armenia, killing a civilian. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry rejected the Armenian accusations as a “provocation”.
The Azerbaijani army, in turn, accused Armenia of attacking the Terter and Agdam regions in Azerbaijan with missiles and after attempting to launch offensives in the Agdere-Terter and Fizuli-Jabrail areas. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov denounced that “the conditions for implementing the humanitarian ceasefire are currently not met” amid the continuous Armenian bombardments.
The Armenian Defense Ministry denied any violation of the truce by the Armenian forces.
Uncredited / AP
In this photo taken from a video released by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, Azerbaijani forces attack armored vehicles of the Armenian army during a military conflict.
The latest outbreak of fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces began on September 27, killing hundreds in the largest escalation of the decades-long conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh since the separatist war ended in 1994. The region is located in Azerbaijan, but it has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia.
From the beginning of the latest fighting, Armenia said it was open to a ceasefire, while Azerbaijan insisted that it should be conditional on the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh, arguing that the failure of international efforts to negotiate a political settlement He was left with no choice but to resort to force.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers signed the truce in Moscow after Russian President Vladimir Putin negotiated it in a series of calls with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Uncredited / AP
A man throws debris in the courtyard of a house destroyed by artillery shelling in Azerbaijan.
Russia has co-sponsored the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks together with the United States and France as co-chairs of the so-called Minsk Group, which works under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. They have not reached any agreement, which leaves Azerbaijan increasingly exasperated.
Speaking in a speech to the nation on Friday hours before the ceasefire agreement was reached, Aliyev insisted on Azerbaijan’s right to claim its territory by force after nearly three decades of international talks that “have failed to not an inch of progress. “
His aide, Hikmat Hajiyev, said that the Minsk Group must offer a concrete plan for the withdrawal of the Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh. “There will be no peace in the South Caucasus until the Armenian troops withdraw from the occupied territories,” he said.
Fighting with heavy artillery, fighter jets and drones has gripped Nagorno-Karabakh, with both sides accusing each other of targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure.
According to the Nagorno-Karabakh army, 404 of its military have died since September 27. Azerbaijan has not provided details on its military losses. Dozens of civilians on both sides have also died.
Uncredited / AP
Smoke rises after the Azerbaijan artillery shelling.
The current escalation marked the first time that Azerbaijan’s ally Turkey took a high profile in the conflict, offering strong political support. In recent years, Turkey has provided Azerbaijan with state-of-the-art weapons, including drones and rocket systems, which have helped the Azerbaijani army to overcome the Nagorno-Karabakh separatist forces in recent fighting.
Armenian officials say Turkey is involved in the conflict and is sending Syrian mercenaries to fight on the side of Azerbaijan. Turkey has denied the deployment of fighters to the region, but a Syrian war monitor and three Syria-based opposition activists have confirmed that Turkey has sent hundreds of Syrian opposition fighters to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkey’s involvement in the conflict brought back painful memories in Armenia, where an estimated 1.5 million died in massacres, deportations, and forced marches that began in 1915. Historians regard the event as genocide, but Turkey denies it.
Turkey’s highly visible role in the confrontation worried Russia, which has a military base in Armenia. Russia and Armenia are linked by a security treaty that obliges Moscow to offer support to its ally in case of aggression.
Uncredited / AP
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reads a statement after leading talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers in Moscow, Russia.
But at the same time, Russia has tried to maintain strong economic and political ties with oil-rich Azerbaijan and prevent Turkey’s attempt to increase its influence in the southern Caucasus without ruining its delicate relations with Ankara.
Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have negotiated a series of agreements to coordinate their conflicting interests in Syria and Libya and expand their economic ties. Last year, NATO member Turkey received Russian S-400 air defense missiles, a move that angered Washington.
A lasting ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh would allow the Kremlin to halt Turkey’s attempt to expand its influence in Russia’s backyard without ruining its strategic relationship with Ankara.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said the deal was “an important first step, but it cannot replace a durable solution.”
“From the very beginning, Turkey has always stressed that it would only support those solutions that are acceptable to Azerbaijan,” he said.
While Turkey has aspired to join the Minsk Group talks as co-chair, the statement issued by Armenia and Azerbaijan contained their commitment to maintain the current format of the peace talks.
In televised remarks after the talks, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan stressed that “no other country, particularly Turkey, can play any role.”
The French Foreign Ministry praised the announcement of the truce, adding that “it must now be put into practice and strictly respected to create the conditions for a permanent end to hostilities between the two countries.”
