Armenia, Azerbaijan clashes over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Tuesday, September 29
Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh continues despite international calls for restraint. On September 28th, Armenian Defense ministry reported intense overnight fighting. According to reports from Baku, Armenian forces built shells in the city of Terter, which borders Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to the de facto government of Nagorno-Karabakh, on September 28th, 32 of its soldiers were killed in a clash with Azerbaijani forces.
Official Armenia and official Azerbaijan have reported on renewed hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 27th. Opposing parties deployed military helicopters, drones, tanks and artillery. The clashes erupted in the morning of September 27th, with civilians bombed, including in the capital, Stepanakert, according to Vagram Poghosyan, spokesman for the president of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Footage of military equipment moving on the streets was spread on social media.
According to the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijan has launched a military attack in Nagorno-Karabakh, in the historical province of Artsakh. The PM called on the population to be ready to defend the homeland.
The Ministry of Defense of Armenia first spread information about the destruction of 2 helicopters and three unmanned aerial vehicles belonging to Azerbaijan as a result of the fighting on the territory of Karabakh, something Baku denied.
A state of emergency was declared in Armenia and the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is controlled by Armenian militias. Military mobilization has also been announced in Armenia. Armenian PM said that the government was considering recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh's independence. Even though Armenia provides military assistance to the breakaway republic, neither Armenia nor any other country has officially recognized the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia accuses Azerbaijani forces of opening fire on Nagorno-Karabakh settlements, Baku says Armenian forces have attacked Azerbaijani military and civilian positions. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have blamed the other side for the resumption of hostilities; Both sides report casualties.
The Parliament of Azerbaijan has decided at a special session to declare a state of emergency in certain parts of the country due to the resumption of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. The curfew is in effect in several cities, including Baku.
President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev said that the operation carried out by Azerbaijani forces should bring ‘liberation from occupation,’ ‘Armenia must stop and Azerbaijan will definitely stop it.’ Pashiniyan accused Azerbaijan of starting a war against the Armenian people and stressed that Yerevan is a guarantor of the security of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Aliyev made statements a few days ago, on September 21st, about how Armenia was preparing for a war. The Russian service of the BBC reported in the previous days that the sudden recruitment of reservists and military exercises had begun in Azerbaijan. A few months earlier, on July 22nd, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of attacking the border region of Tavu.
A statement from the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan said that 5 members of one family were killed in an artillery fire by the Armenian military in the Naftalan region. Earlier, 19 wounded people were reported from villages in Azerbaijan.
As reported by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan in the morning of September 28th, about 10 villages in the direction of Fizuli-Jebrail have been liberated and control has been established at significant heights.
According to the Azerbaijani side, more than 550 Armenian servicemen were killed and wounded near Talish. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry says that 22 enemy tanks, 15 anti-aircraft missile systems, 18 unmanned aerial vehicles, 8 artillery pieces and 3 ammunition depots were destroyed in various directions. According to the Azerbaijani side, the commander of the airborne battalion Lernik Babayan was killed.
The Armenian side also claims casualties among the Nagorno-Karabakh militias - reportedly killing 16 people and wounding up to 100. The self-proclaimed republic claims that the Azerbaijani side has a great loss.
For its part, the Armenian Defense Ministry says that on Sunday, about 200 Azerbaijani servicemen were killed and 30 enemy tanks and 20 unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed as a result of hostilities.
The leadership of self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh reports that dozens were killed and in the shooting, including civilians. The President of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Araik Arutunyan, said that it is not Azerbaijan, but Turkey fighting against them. According to Arutunyan, not only Turkish drones and planes are involved in the hostilities, but also military units and mercenaries and volunteers from other countries, while Nagorno-Karabakh uses only its forces and the volunteers will be only from Armenia.
“Armenia has deployed fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Azerbaijani Ambassador to Turkey, Khazar Ibrahim said in an interview with the Turkish news agency Anadolu. According to the Azerbaijani diplomat, the Armenian authorities have also deployed a terrorist group in the conflict zone, the so-called Fighters of the Secret Armenian Army for the Liberation of Armenia.
Armenian PM called on international structures to suspend Turkish interference in the Karabakh conflict, since it may eventually shake the situation in the region.
“The large-scale war in the South Caucasus, which we are now on the brink of, could have the most unpredictable consequences. It can go beyond the region and become larger, endangering international security and stability,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged support for Azerbaijan, urging the world to stand with the country in its ‘battle against invasion and cruelty.’ He advised the Armenian people to “take hold of their future against their leadership that is dragging them to a catastrophe.”
Russia, traditionally seen as an ally of Armenia, called for an immediate ceasefire and talks to stabilise the situation. Russia FM Lavrov said Russia would continue its mediation efforts to stabilize the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The renewal of the clashes was followed by an international reaction. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia responded to the ongoing process in Karabakh, expressing Georgia’s readiness to contribute in any way to de-escalation and peace in the region.
Georgia called on the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, international actors, to make every effort to ensure an end to the escalation and the resumption of a constructive dialogue, and expresses its readiness to promote de-escalation in any way possible and to establish peace in the region.
The President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili expressed concern over renewed hostilities on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and called on the parties for peace.
James Appathurai, NATO Secretary-General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia and Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General expressed deep concerns and called for both sides to stop fighting.
President Donald Trump said the US was seeking to stop the violence. State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus said the U.S. ‘in the most powerful way’ condemns the escalation of violence.
The US presidential candidate Joe Biden says he is concerned about the ongoing military confrontation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Former US vice president noted that the Trump administration needs to strengthen its diplomatic services, along with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, to enable a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
“The United States should call for more observers on the ceasefire line, and urge Russia to stop cynically supplying weapons to both sides as it evaluates our security support programs to ensure that military resources are not used anywhere for attacks,” Biden said.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrell has issued a statement on the matter: “It is urgent that, under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, return to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict talks without preconditions.” The President of the European Council, Charles Michel released the statement with the same points.
“We strongly condemn the use of force and express our grief over the deaths of civilians. "The Co-Chairs call on the parties to immediately end the violence and resume talks to find a lasting solution to the conflict,” the OSCE said in a statement.
Germany and France, which has a large Armenian community, called for an immediate ceasefire and dialogue. Iran, which borders both Azerbaijan and Armenia, offered to broker peace talks.
The 1988-1994 war between the two neighboring countries was over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The separatists, with the support of Armenia, occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 surrounding districts of Azerbaijan and declared independence. The war claimed the lives of at least 30,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of refugees.
After a fragile Russian-brokered ceasefire in 1994, there have been periodic clashes in the region between the Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces. At least 200 people were killed in a flare-up of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in April 2016. There are frequent skirmishes and at least 16 were reported killed in clashes in July.
Peace talks under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, led by the United States, France and Russia, have failed to make progress in resolving the conflict. Since 1994, the conflict has been, in fact, frozen. Recently, the ceasefire regime has been violated more and more often.
