[ad_1]
An Azerbaijani combat drone fires at an Armenian artillery battery on October 1. Image: keystone
“The scale of the offensive is unprecedented”: Armenia raises serious accusations against Turkey.
In the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Armenia has accused Turkey of being directly involved in the fighting. “There are 150 high-ranking Turkish officers directing military operations in Azerbaijan,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a speech to his people on Saturday night. “The scale of the offensive is unprecedented.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had previously said that Turkey, an ally of his country, was not involved in the conflict. Over the weekend, fighting in the southern Caucasus continued unabated, despite calls for a ceasefire.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Image: keystone
There is fighting on the front line, Pashinyan said. “We are facing a fateful chapter in our history.” The head of government said that the Armenian people are the target of Azerbaijan and Turkey. According to the Armenian news agency Armenpress, on Saturday night he called Chancellor Angela Merkel for the second time in a few days and informed her about the participation of Turkish military officers.
Aliyev, in turn, thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his support in a letter published by his office that night. Specifically, he noted that Turkey condemned Armenia’s actions.
Aliyev visiting a military hospital, September 30. Image: keystone
Azerbaijan returned to claim land gains for themselves at night. The president wrote on Twitter that Madagisin had been captured by the army. “I am giving back to the liberated madagisano his historical name: Suqovuşan”, emphasized the head of state. There was no independent confirmation of the conquest. The village is located on the strategically important Sarsang Reservoir, which controls the water supply of the Terter River in the eastern plain.
According to Armenian sources, the situation was comparatively calm overnight. The authorities in the capital Stepanakert had previously reported that the city of Nagorno-Karabakh had been bombed by the Azerbaijani side. The two warring countries had spoken of skirmishes in various regions throughout the day. Armenia announced that it had shot down enemy aircraft.
Changing mutual responsibility
For a week now, the two states have been involved in heavy fighting in the Armenian-controlled area of Azerbaijan. These go far beyond the skirmishes that have occurred recently in the region. Both parties mutually transfer responsibility for the renewed escalation.
The two countries have been fighting for decades over the mountainous region, which is home to some 145,000 people. Azerbaijan lost control of the area in a war that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union some 30 years ago. Now it is inhabited by Armenian Christians from Karabakh. Since 1994 there has been a fragile ceasefire.
The official mediation body between the two former Soviet republics at war is the so-called Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The group called for an immediate end to the fighting and a return to the negotiating table. Pashinyan also brought up the Russian peacekeepers. This should be discussed in the Minsk group, he said.
Azerbaijan is not responsible for the composition of this group, Aliyev told Al-Jazeera television station. If a decision were to be made today on an occupation for this group that could also promote peace, “the composition, of course, would have been completely different.”
Moscow only wants to send Russian peacekeepers to the crisis region with the consent of Yerevan and Baku. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Saturday night, as RBK broadcaster reported. “Peacekeeping forces can only be deployed with the consent of both parties,” he said. (sda / dpa)
