Armenian government reports 1,280 Azerbaijani military deaths in Nagorno-Karabakh

Since the beginning of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, 1,280 Azerbaijani military personnel have been killed and 2,700 injured. Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan announced this on October 1 in an infographic, which he posted on his Facebook page.

According to Avinyan, also among the losses of Azerbaijan: 181 tanks, 90 drones, 12 helicopters and four planes.

He later deleted the post, but the infographic remained in the cache.

Azerbaijan did not officially comment on this information. Baku has not announced its losses during the conflict.

The day before, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced that 2,300 Armenian military personnel had been killed or wounded in Nagorno-Karabakh since September 27. The Armenian Defense Ministry denied this information, noting that the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry attributes the number of its own losses per day to the Armenian forces. According to the agency “Sputnik Armenia”During the conflict, at least 103 Armenian soldiers were killed, journalists published a list of the dead.

In 1991 Nagorno-Karabakh with the support of Armenia declared its independence from Azerbaijan. This led to hostilities that lasted until 1994. The armed conflict ended with the signing of the Bishkek Protocol on Armistice and Ceasefire, but from time to time armed clashes broke out between the parties. During the conflict, more than 30 thousand people died in the region. Azerbaijan considers Nagorno-Karabakh as a territory occupied by Armenia.

On September 27, 2020, the biggest conflict in recent years broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry accused Armenia of “large-scale provocation”, bombardment of the Azerbaijani army positions and announced the beginning of a “swift counteroffensive”. The Armenian authorities, in turn, declared that the Azerbaijani army had launched an offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh. During the conflict, the parties used tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft. Civilians were reported killed and injured.

Martial law was introduced both in Armenia and in certain regions of Azerbaijan. Both countries involved in the conflict announced mobilization.

Turkey declared its support for Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia, which, according to Ankara, “once again violated international law.” Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that Armenia should leave the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh territory. Armenia announced Turkey’s intervention in the conflict. According to the country’s Defense Ministry, on September 29, an Armenian Su-25 plane was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter, the pilot was killed. Turkey denied this information.

The United States has warned other states not to interfere in the situation. Russia called on Turkey and other countries to convince Azerbaijan and Armenia to return to a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced on September 29 that the countries are now he is not ready for negotiations on the resolution of the conflict.