[ad_1]
– Come here! Sit down! There are rockets!
Armenian journalist Angelika Zakarjan and her colleagues are working in Stepanakert, the largest city in Nagorno-Karabakh. Suddenly, the rockets fall nearby and the journalists try to find a shelter.
INTENSIVE PROTECTION: Bombs explode in Stepanakert, the largest city in Nagorno-Karabakh. The city normally has about 50,000 inhabitants, but now many have fled.
Photo: ARIS MESSINIS / AFP
Acts of war broke out on Sunday two weeks ago and since then life has turned completely different for the 26-year-old Armenian. Zakarjan tells NRK that it’s terrible to be targeted lately.
– In Stepanakert, the sound of the bombings, the sound of the sirens as a warning not to go out. On the internet we see what is happening in the city, because now we cannot leave the pump rooms.
People are afraid, they tell us that many civilians have been injured and that they have died, says the journalist.
MOMBAR OBJECTIVES: Social worker Seymur Valiyev lives in Azerbaijan’s second largest city, Ganja, which is being bombed by Armenians.
Photo: Private
The city of Ganja is located on the outskirts of Nagorno-Karabakh, but has also been bombed this week.
This is the second largest city in Azerbaijan with more than 300,000 inhabitants.
What is happening now is dramatic, says Azerbaijani social worker Seymur Valiev, who has lived in the city for a long time.
– This is completely wild. You may be on the street, busy with your regular work, and then a rocket attack comes, says the 30-year-old Azerbaijani.
He does not believe that anyone denies that he is afraid, because what is happening is dangerous and terrifying.
Read more: Violation of the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh
Both parties claim the right to Nagorno-Karabakh
Armenians and Azerbaijanis believe that it is the other side that is attacking civilians in this conflict, while their own forces are only attacking military targets.
The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh claim that they have a historical right to live in Nagorno-Karabakh. But the area is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
– For Azerbaijan, this is a war for territory. For us, it is a war for the homeland. Therefore, we do not intend to leave here. We don’t plan on giving up, says Zakarjan.
The Azerbaijani have a completely different opinion.
– This territory belongs to Azerbaijan. The solution to the problem is found in international law. The military forces of the Armenian separatists must withdraw from our country, Valiyev told NRK.
Read also: The background of the conflict in the Caucasus does not disappear with the ceasefire
The conflict has been decades
In connection with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenian-backed separatists took control of Nagorno-Karabakh.
During several years of war, some 30,000 people lost their lives, almost a million people were forced to flee, most of them Azerbaijanis. In 1994, a ceasefire was signed and has since been broken several times.
This time, both sides accuse each other of having started the fight.
Ceasefire failed
On Friday afternoon, the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan arrived in Moscow to negotiate a ceasefire. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it would take effect yesterday morning.
NOT FULFILLED: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov led the ceasefire talks with his colleagues from Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Photo: BROCHURE / AFP
But shortly after, both sides accused each other of breaking the ceasefire.
Also today, the Azerbaijani city of Ganja is said to have been bombed and nine people are said to have lost their lives.
Stepanakert, inside Nagorno-Karabakh, is also said to have been attacked. Earlier this week, the Prime Minister of Armenia made the following statement:
“We are now on the brink of a full-scale war in the South Caucasus, and it could have completely unpredictable consequences,” said Nikol Pasjinjan. He reiterates that Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Armenia.
CIVIL AFFAIRS: Armenian attacks have wreaked havoc in the Azerbaijani city of Ganja. It is located on the outskirts of Nagorno-Karabakh and is the second largest city in the country.
Photo: AP
The President of Azerbaijan will take control of the region by military force.
– I hope that the Azerbaijani Army will continue to fulfill its mission. International law must be respected because Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories belong to Azerbaijan, says Ilham Aliyev.
Read more: News agency: Syrian foreign fighters in Nagorno-Karabakh
Escalation hazard
This week, Turkey’s foreign minister came to the Azerbaijani capital Baku for talks with the country’s president.
The Turks have repeatedly expressed their full support for Azerbaijan’s struggle to seize control of Nagorno-Karabakh.
On the other hand, Armenia is a close ally of Russia, both economically and militarily.
The Russians have a defense pact with the Armenians and can intervene militarily on the side of Armenia. If both Russia and Turkey are militarily involved in the conflict in the Caucasus, it could become much more serious and extensive.
HOT: The civilian population must remain in basements and bomb shelters. Those who could have fled the places with the most intense bombardments.
Photo: AP
On both sides of the front, the civilian population must remain largely in bomb shelters.
Those who may have fled the areas with the heaviest bombardment,
Many fear an escalation.
“If that happens, it could be the beginning of something big, not just between Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan, but something more dangerous, which could turn into a third world war,” said Armenian journalist Angelika Zakarjan.
