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- Iran warns conflict could erupt into regional war
- More casualties reported among Armenian-backed troops
- Mass displacement claims amid ongoing clashes
15:59 GMT – Turkish regulator fines TV station for ‘insulting’ Azerbaijan
The Turkish broadcasting regulator RTUK on Wednesday ordered the Halk TV broadcaster to pay a fine after it criticized Azerbaijan for the deadly clashes in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The penalty follows “derogatory, insulting and slanderous” comments against the state of Azerbaijan and President Ilham Aliyev, an RTUK
member, who asked to remain anonymous, told DPA news agency.
An elderly man looks at a house destroyed after a bombing in the main city of Stepanakert, in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, on October 7, 2020. [Aris Messinis/AFP]
15:15 GMT – France accuses Turkey of ‘military involvement’ in Karabakh
France accused Turkey of “military involvement” on the Azerbaijani side in its conflict with Armenia over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“The new aspect is that there is a military participation of Turkey that runs the risk of promoting the internationalization of the conflict,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told parliament.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics, have been embroiled for decades in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian area that was separated from Azerbaijan in a 1990s war that cost around 30,000 lives.
14:40 GMT – Greece withdraws Azerbaijan’s ambassador
The Greek Foreign Ministry says it is withdrawing its ambassador to Azerbaijan after what it says are “completely baseless and insulting accusations” by the Azerbaijani government that it is tolerating the preparation of terrorist acts.
In a statement, the ministry said that the Greek ambassador had been called to Athens for consultations. He said that the Azerbaijani government had claimed that Greece was tolerating the preparation of terrorist acts, attempts to recruit terrorist fighters and cyberattacks against Azerbaijan due to the latter’s conflict with Armenia over the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The ministry said it had filed a protest on the issue on Tuesday with the Azerbaijani ambassador to Greece.
.@GreeceMFA announcement about unacceptable accusations made by the government of Azerbaijan
🔗https: //t.co/tPNc0eMztd https://t.co/N4SPQGKzX3
– Ministry of Foreign Affairs (@GreeceMFA) October 7, 2020
14:01 GMT – France says it will push for the Nagorno-Karabakh talks in the coming days
The French foreign minister said the talks will take place in Geneva on Thursday and in Moscow on Monday to try to convince the warring parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to agree to negotiate a ceasefire.
Jean-Yves Le Drian told the parliament’s foreign affairs committee that France, Russia and the United States would hold these talks to start a dialogue that should take place without preconditions.
Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith from Goris, Armenia, said the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers are likely to be present at these talks. “One foreign minister will go to Geneva and the other to Moscow. We don’t know which way it will be, ”Smith added.
Good night. This Usaid Siddiqui in Doha replacing Farah Najjar and Anealla Safdar.
13:07 GMT – Azerbaijan says Armenian-backed troops targeted strategic oil pipeline
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry says Armenian forces tried to attack a pipeline that runs from its capital to Georgia and Turkey.
The international community is concerned about the prospect of all-out war because Nagorno-Karabakh serves as a corridor for pipelines that bring oil and gas to world markets.
❗️#Armenia/ n forces attempted to attack the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in #Yevlakh region. The security and safety risks created by the Armenian political leadership in the region should no longer be neglected.#Stop Armenian aggression#Stop the attack on civilians#KarabakhIsAzerbaijan
– MFA Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 (@AzerbaijanMFA) October 6, 2020
12:56 GMT – Armenia PM ‘Genocide’ Warning
The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, in an interview with the BBC, has defended the presence of his country in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Using the Armenian name for the area – Artsakh – Nikol Pashinyan said it was “Armenia, land of Armenians.” He said the region was facing assault from the combined forces of Azerbaijan, Turkey and what he called “terrorists” from Syria.
Ankara and Baku have rejected accusations by various heads of state, including Assad of Syria and Macron of France, that Syrian fighters were operating in the region.
The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh face an existential threat. So if the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan succeed, it will mean a #genocide for the Armenians of #NagornoKarabakh.
My interview to @BBCWN https://t.co/fs0gAQ9Bzd– Nikol Pashinyan (@NikolPashinyan) October 6, 2020
11:46 GMT – Azerbaijan says ready for talks with Armenia when military conflict ends
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said his country would return to talks with Armenia after the acute phase of the military conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region ends, the Russian news agency TASS was quoted as saying.
Aliyev, who spoke to Russian President Putin by phone, said in an interview with Russian state television that Turkey had the right to participate in mediation.
10:20 GMT – Putin pledges to continue dialogue with the President of Azerbaijan
Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue his dialogue with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict after the two leaders spoke briefly on the phone, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Peskov said Aliyev had called Putin to congratulate him on his 68th birthday and that the two men had taken the opportunity to discuss the conflict.
A man removes clothes from a house damaged by recent bombings during a military conflict in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. [Reuters]08:32 GMT – Putin renews the call for a ceasefire
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region to stop, saying that the deadliest fighting in more than 25 years between ethnic Armenian and Azeri forces was a tragedy.
In an interview with state television, Putin said that he was in constant contact with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan about the conflict.
Putin described the fighting as a “tragedy” and said he expected it to end “in the very near future.”
“Of course this is a great tragedy. People are dying, there are great losses on both sides, ”he said.
Putin says that Russia has no obligation to defend Armenia because the war with Azerbaijan does not take place in Armenian territories.
Karabakh is an Azerbaijani territory under international law, occupied by Yerevan for the past 30 years. pic.twitter.com/Gm2VyVEnrB
– Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 7, 2020
07:36 GMT – Iranian President warns that the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia could turn into a regional war
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned of the danger of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia turning into a regional war.
“We must be vigilant that the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan does not turn into a regional war. Peace is the foundation of our work and we hope to restore stability to the region in a peaceful way, ”Rouhani said in televised remarks.
He also said that Iran would not allow “states to send terrorists to our borders under various pretexts.”
07:32 GMT – Conflict ‘displaces half of Karabakh population’
Half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population has been displaced since fierce fighting broke out more than a week ago between Armenian troops and Azerbaijan, ethnic Armenian officials in the breakaway region said.
“According to our preliminary estimates, around 50 percent of Karabakh’s population and 90 percent of women and children, or between 70,000 and 75,000 people, have been displaced,” said Karabakh Ombudsman Artak Beglaryan , to the AFP news agency.
Al Jazeera is attempting to verify Beglaryan’s claim.
There are people near his house, allegedly damaged by the recent bombings in the center of Ganja in Azerbaijan. [Aziz Karimov/EPA]07:30 GMT – The death toll among Armenian-backed troops rises to 280
The Nagorno-Karabakh region’s Defense Ministry said it had recorded another 40 casualties among its Armenian-backed troops, raising the military death toll to 280 since fighting broke out with Azeri forces, Interfax news agency reported.
Good Morning. Farah Najjar in Doha and Anealla Safdar in London will bring you the latest updates on the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis today, Wednesday 7th October.
Here is a quick summary:
The fighting in Nagorno Karabakh has continued for a second week as Armenia and Azerbaijan clash over the breakaway region.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his country could make concessions over the region if Azerbaijan did the same.
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.
Violence regularly erupts in the breakaway region, which is within Azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic Armenians, but recent fighting has raised fears of an all-out war.
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