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- Russia is hosting Armenian and Azerbaijani officials for truce talks as fighting rages on.
- The fighting continues, and both countries claim to be under attack.
- Nagorno-Karabakh ethnic Armenian officials say 26 more soldiers were killed.
- Azerbaijan claims it has cleared unexploded missiles outside the combat zone.
14:14 GMT – Azerbaijan says ‘last chance’ for Armenia to resolve conflict peacefully
In a televised address to the nation, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Baku is giving Armenia one “last chance” to peacefully resolve its conflict, as talks between the two sides begin in Moscow.
“We are giving Armenia the opportunity to resolve the conflict peacefully. This is his last chance, ”Aliyev said.
“We will return our lands in any case. This is your historic opportunity. “
13:55 GMT – Talks begin in Moscow
Armenia and Azerbaijan have started their first high-level talks after almost two weeks of fighting.
“It has begun,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Facebook, posting a photo of the foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan sitting at a round table in Moscow.
13:53 GMT – Aliyev of Azerbaijan says he is ready for talks, but without concessions
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that he is ready to return to talks, but that he is unwilling to make concessions to Armenia and no other country could influence Baku’s will.
Aliyev, speaking during a televised address to the nation, said there could be no talks if Armenia continued to insist that Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Armenian territory.
He said that Azerbaijan’s use of force had changed the facts on the ground and had shown that there was a military solution to the dispute.
Azerbaijan-Armenia: more victims in the main city of Nagorno-Karabakh
13:45 GMT – Turkey: Truce efforts doomed to failure unless Armenia withdraws
Turkey says efforts by France, the United States and Russia to end the violence were destined to fail unless they secured the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the enclave.
“If they are only calling for a ceasefire, if they are only working towards a ceasefire, it will be nothing more than a repeat of what happened over the past 30 years,” Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told Al Jazeera. In an interview.
“It will almost certainly fail if it does not also involve a detailed plan to end the occupation.”
13:35 GMT – Azerbaijani army liberates Hadrud, several villages
The Azerbaijani army has liberated the city of Hadrud and several villages from the Armenian occupation. Al Jazeera is attempting to verify the claim.
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Hi, I’m Mersiha Gadzo in Toronto, Canada, taking over the live updates from my colleagues Anealla Safdar and Arwa Ibrahim in London.
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11:20 GMT – Karabakh rivals head towards truce, says France
Armenia and Azerbaijan are moving “towards a truce” to end the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, the French presidency told AFP, with an agreement expected by Friday or Saturday night.
“We are moving towards a truce tonight or tomorrow, but it is still fragile,” the office of President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement to AFP.
The French presidency said the talks were part of a “coordinated process” with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the beginning of the week.
10:35 GMT – Baku claims troops take Nagorno-Karabakh city
Azerbaijani officials and separatist authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh said the heavy shelling continued overnight.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry claims that its troops advanced and captured military equipment from the Armenian army.
A video shared by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry showed Azeri soldiers raising a flag over the city of Jabrayil.
10:01 GMT – France expects a truce in Nagorno-Karabakh in the coming days
French President Emmanuel Macron believes a truce could come “soon” in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict despite the fact that the situation remains fragile, the Elysee palace said.
He added that Macron held talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan late on Thursday and with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev early on Friday, and that they would all point to “a resumption of negotiations in the coming days.”
France, the United States and Russia plan to meet in Moscow on Monday [File: Lewis Joly/AFP]08:59 GMT – Azerbaijan confirms that the Foreign Minister will join the Moscow talks
Azerbaijan confirmed that Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov will participate in the talks in Moscow as Azerbaijani and ethnic Armenian forces clashed again in Nagorno-Karabakh.
With Russian President Vladimir Putin calling for an end to military actions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Kremlin extended the invitation to Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.
08:22 GMT – Both countries use Twitter to allege more attacks
Armenia and Azerbaijan are fighting this battle on social media as well as on the ground. Here are two tweets from this morning, with each country claiming to be under attack.
#Azerbaijanbombing of the Armed Forces #Stepanakert again
Sun. #Azerbaijan Stepanakert is bombarded again #Stop AggressionAzerbaijani#NKpaz#ArtsakhStrong– Ministry of Defense of Armenia 🇦🇲 (@ArmeniaMODTeam) October 9, 2020
#Azerbaijan National Mine Action Agency @ANAMA_gov_az has cleared 29 unexploded missiles in 8 regions of Azerbaijan outside the conflict zone since September 27.#Stop Armenian aggression#Stop the attack on civilians#KarabakhIsAzerbaijan
– MFA Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 (@AzerbaijanMFA) October 9, 2020
07:50 GMT – Nagorno-Karabakh says 26 soldiers killed; the military toll rises to 376
The Nagorno-Karabakh region defense ministry, an entity run by ethnic Armenians, said it had recorded another 26 deaths among its military, raising the number to 376 since clashes with Azerbaijani forces broke out on September 27. .
07:43 GMT – Russia says Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers will attend Moscow talks
Armenia and Azerbaijan have confirmed that their foreign ministers will come for talks with Moscow, the RIA news agency said, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry.
With President Vladimir Putin calling for the cessation of military actions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Kremlin extended the invitation to Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, on Friday.
“Baku and Yerevan confirmed their participation in the talks in Moscow,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Active preparation for the talks is underway, says the Russian Foreign Ministry. [File: Aziz Karimov/EPA]07:25 GMT – The Kremlin invites the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers to the Moscow talks
The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been invited to participate in the talks in Moscow, the Kremlin said, citing President Vladimir Putin, adding that the invitation follows calls between the leaders of the three countries.
“After a series of telephone conversations between the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, the President of Russia calls for the cessation of military actions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the statement added.
Good Morning. Arwa Ibrahim and Anealla Safdar in London will bring you the latest updates on the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis today, Thursday 9th October.
Here is a quick summary:
The fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh has continued for the second week (we are now on the 13th day of the clashes) as Armenia and Azerbaijan fight for the separatist region.
So far, the two rivals are ignoring international calls for a ceasefire and have accused each other of causing civilian and military casualties since the September 27 clash.
About 300 people have been reported dead in total, but the actual death toll is believed to be higher.
On Friday, Russia claimed that the two rival countries had agreed to join talks in Moscow aimed at ending the conflict. If confirmed, this would be the first time that both show a real will for a ceasefire. More on that later.
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