Armenia and Azerbaijan report attacks despite cease-fire deal
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, October 14
Armenian and Azerbaijani forces continue firing on and around Nagorno-Karabakh, despite international calls from both sides to abide by the terms of a Russian-brokered peace deal.
The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan announced on October 13th that the situation in several parts of the conflict zone remained tense overnight. He accused the Armenian Armed Forces of bombing the Terter district yesterday morning.
The Armenian Defense Ministry denied the allegations, saying that the Azerbaijani side had ‘resumed operations with active rocket and artillery fire on the southern, northern and northeastern parts of the front.’
Both sides accuse each other of violating the October 10th peace agreement reached in Moscow. The agreement provided for the exchange of hostages of ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijani troops during the 2 week conflict. The statement came from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after a meeting with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts. Negotiations lasted for 10 hours behind closed doors. Note that the previous day, President of Russia, Vladimir Putin called on both sides to immediately cease fire.
According to the agreement, the decision to cease fire ‘shall enter into force on 12 October 2020 at 12:00 noon, for humanitarian purposes, in order to exchange prisoners of war and other detainees, as well as to exchange the bodies of fallen soldiers through the mediation of the Red Cross and in accordance with established criteria;’
‘The Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group States, will enter into substantive negotiations based on the basic principles of the settlement, with a view to a speedy and peaceful settlement of the conflict;’
As a result of trilateral consultations, the parties confirmed the unchanging format of the negotiations.
Shortly after the agreement came into force, the parties accused each other of violating it. During the talks, the representative of the Armenian Ministry of Defense said that Azerbaijan had carried out an attack on the unrecognized so-called Stepanakert, the ‘capital’ of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
The Azerbaijani side says that the opposing forces in Karabakh carried out an artillery attack on the territory of Azerbaijan, whilst Both sides deny any military activity.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev told Russia’s RBC news outlet the warring parties were now engaged in trying to find a political settlement, but suggested there would be further fighting ahead.
Azeri Foreign Minister said the truce would last only for as long as it took for the Red Cross to arrange the exchange of the dead,adding that his country hoped and expected to take control of more territory in time.
Armenia’s foreign ministry said it was using all diplomatic channels to try to support the truce, while Nagorno-Karabakh’s foreign ministry accused Azerbaijan of using ceasefire talks as cover to ready military action.
If the truce holds, it would mark a major diplomatic coup for Russia, which has a security pact with Armenia but has also cultivated warm ties with Azerbaijan. But so far the agreement “is not being adhered to in full, and hostilities continue,” Lavrov said Monday at a meeting with his Armenian counterpart.
Turkey, which has publicly sided with Azerbaijan in the conflict, also accused Armenia of violating the truce.
After the 1994 peace agreement, dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed when clashes resumed on September 27th in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The separatist region, ruled by ethnic Armenians and populated mainly by Armenians, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
The conflict in the region has become the ground for disinformation about Georgia, as Foreign Ministry claims. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Lasha Darsalia, released a statement, saying that as soon as the escalation began in Karabakh, Georgia suspended the transit of military cargo by land to both countries.
“According to the documentation available to Georgia, the flights that end in Georgian airspace are of humanitarian and civil nature only and fully comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards,” he added.
Darsalia assures that Georgia continues to fulfill its international obligations in the field of humanitarian and civil, including commercial cargo, and this is done in full compliance with the norms of international law and the regulations of the ICAO.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that despite this, the manipulation of information in the media has intensified, as if military shipments through Georgia are carried out through civil flights.
As Darsalia stated, “It is the responsibility of a particular carrier and cargo holder to fully comply with the norms of international law and not to abuse the humanitarian corridors. If violations are found and there is solid evidence, Georgia will take appropriate action and violators will be held accountable under international law, including before ICAO.”
