2023-09-19 13:36:30
Yerevan said it had no troops in Karabakh, suggesting that separatist forces were alone once morest the Azerbaijani army.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense announced Tuesday morning the launch of “anti-terrorist operations” to put “the positions of the Armenian armed forces” out of harm’s way, following the death of six Azerbaijanis in the explosion of mines on a construction site. road.
Tensions have been increasing for months around Nagorno Karabakh, a secessionist territory of Azerbaijan with an Armenian majority, which has already been at the heart of two wars between Yerevan and Baku, the last of which lasted six weeks.
“Unconditional and total withdrawal”
Azerbaijani diplomacy warned that “the only way to achieve peace and stability” was “the unconditional and total withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces” from the territory and “the dissolution of the so-called separatist regime”.
The Armenian Defense Ministry assured him “that Armenia did not (have) an army in Nagorno Karabakh”, therefore implying that its separatist allies were facing the opposing army.
Comments which Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian echoed a little later, accusing Baku of wanting to “drag Armenia into hostilities”.
Separatists claim that several towns in Nagorno Karabakh, including the capital Stepanakert, are targeted by “intensive shooting”, which also targets civilian infrastructure. The Azerbaijani army is trying to advance “deep” into Karabakh, they said.
The situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is currently “stable”, however, specified Nikol Pashinian.
The Prime Minister, who convened his Security Council, also denounced calls for a “coup d’état” in Armenia, while television reported hundreds of demonstrators massed in front of the government headquarters in Yerevan.
The Armenian opposition has tried several times for three years to obtain Mr. Pashinian’s departure from power, accusing him of being responsible for the Armenian military defeat during the fall 2020 war in Nagorno Karabakh.
“Bloodshed”
Baku said it had informed Russia and Turkey of its operations in the enclave, and Moscow then said it had only been warned “a few minutes” before their start.
The Kremlin, “concerned”, said through its spokesperson that it was trying to convince Armenia and Azerbaijan to return “to the negotiating table”.
France requested “the emergency convening of a meeting of the United Nations Security Council”, condemning the military operation.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would contact both parties.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who has conducted mediation in the past between the two countries, ruled that Azerbaijan must “immediately” cease its operation.
No peace agreement
Baku justified its operation by the death of four police officers and two Azerbaijani civilians in the explosion of mines on the site of a tunnel under construction between Shusha and Fizouli, two towns in Nagorno Karabakh under Azerbaijan control.
Nagorno Karabakh is one of the most mined regions of the former USSR, and their explosions regularly kill people.
But Azerbaijani security services believe that a group of Armenian separatist “saboteurs” planted these mines, committing an act of “terrorism.”
At the same time, Baku accused the Armenian army of having injured two Azerbaijani soldiers during mortar and small arms fire in the northeast of Karabakh, and of having fired at night with small arms towards positions of Azerbaijan in the Gadabay district, on the border between the two countries.
Azerbaijan also accuses Armenian separatists of having targeted the GPS system of an Azerbaijani airliner via radio interference.
However, tensions had decreased a notch on Monday with the arrival of humanitarian aid in the enclave, subject for months to an Azerbaijani blockade which caused serious shortages of food and medicine.
Yerevan accuses Baku of provoking a humanitarian crisis for the purposes of ethnic cleansing by blocking the Lachin corridor, the only road linking Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia.
The previous conflict, in 2020, resulted in an Armenian military rout, with Yerevan having to cede territories in and around Nagorno Karabakh to Baku.
A Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed, involving the deployment of Russian peacekeepers, but the belligerents never reached a peace agreement.
Armenian diplomacy denounced a “large-scale aggression” for the purposes of “ethnic cleansing”. She also judged that Russia, guarantor of a ceasefire dating from 2020 with peace forces on the ground, must “stop Azerbaijani aggression”.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian urgently convened his Security Council to deal with this crisis.
Yerevan also said it had no troops in Karabakh, suggesting that separatist forces were alone once morest the Azerbaijani army.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced Tuesday morning the launch of “anti-terrorist operations” to put “the positions of the Armenian armed forces” out of harm’s way, following the death of six Azerbaijanis in the explosion of mines on a construction site road.
Tensions have been growing for months around Nagorno Karabakh, a secessionist territory of Azerbaijan with an Armenian majority, which has already been at the heart of two wars between Yerevan and Baku, the last of which lasted six weeks three years ago.
Azerbaijani diplomacy warned that “the only way to achieve peace and stability” was “the unconditional and total withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces” from the territory and “the dissolution of the so-called separatist regime”.
The Armenian Ministry of Defense assured him “that Armenia did not (have) an army in Nagorno Karabakh”, therefore implying that its separatist allies were facing the opposing army.
Separatists claimed that Nagorno Karabakh’s capital, Stepanakert, and other towns were being targeted by “intensive fire”, accusing Azerbaijan of carrying out “a large-scale military operation”.
Armenian Prime Minister denounces calls for a “coup d’état”
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian denounced calls for “a coup d’état” in his country on Tuesday.
“We must not allow certain people, certain forces to strike a blow once morest the Armenian state. There are already calls from different places to carry out a coup in Armenia,” he said in an address to the nation, as Armenian television reported hundreds of demonstrators gathering in front of the seat of the Armenian government in Yerevan.
Opposition parties have also called for a rally at 7:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. GMT).
The Armenian opposition has tried several times for three years to obtain Mr. Pashinian’s departure from power, accusing him of being responsible for the Armenian military defeat during the fall 2020 war in Nagorno Karabakh.
After this rout, demonstrations broke out in Armenia, ultimately pushing Mr. Pashinian to call early elections. The Prime Minister himself came to power following a protest movement in 2018.
” Bloodshed “
At least two civilians were killed and 23 others injured in the Azerbaijani military operation launched earlier today in Nagorno Karabakh, the Armenian separatist authorities in this enclave announced.
“The number of civilian injuries increased to 23. The reported number of civilian victims is (him) two,” lamented on X (ex-Twitter) Gegham Stepanyan, the rights defender of the separatist region. “Civilian infrastructure is also targeted” by the Azerbaijani army, he said.
Baku said it had informed Russia and Turkey of its operations in the enclave, ensuring that it was only targeting “legitimate military targets” and not civilians. The country also claimed to be setting up “humanitarian corridors” to evacuate civilians from Nagorno Karabakh.
Russia, Armenia’s traditional ally and regional power, called on Baku and Yerevan to “end the bloodshed.”
The spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, asked both parties to respect the agreements in force and to “avoid provocations”.
Baku justified this military operation by the death of four police officers and two Azerbaijani civilians in the explosion of mines on the site of a tunnel under construction between Shusha and Fizouli, two towns in Nagorno Karabakh under Azerbaijan control.
Azerbaijani security services accused a group of Armenian separatist “saboteurs” of laying these mines and committing an act of “terrorism”.
Azerbaijani diplomacy assured that these explosions revealed “Armenia’s main objective which is not to withdraw its armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan”, and to continue military and mining operations.
Two wars
Nagorno Karabakh, scene of two wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in the early 1990s and then in the fall of 2020, is one of the most mined regions in the former USSR. Explosions regularly cause victims there, as do armed clashes.
Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused the Armenian army of injuring two Azerbaijani servicemen during mortar and small arms fire in the Agdam sector, northeast of Karabakh.
He also accused the Armenian army of having fired in the night with small arms towards Azerbaijani positions in the Gadabay district, on the border between the two countries, and the Armenian separatists of having targeted via radio interference in the GPS system of an Azerbaijani airliner.
However, tensions had decreased a notch on Monday with the arrival of humanitarian aid in the enclave, subject for months to an Azerbaijani blockade which caused serious shortages of food and medicine.
Yerevan accuses Baku of deliberately provoking a humanitarian crisis for the purposes of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno Karabakh by blocking the Lachin corridor, the only road linking the mountainous enclave to Armenia.
The previous conflict, in 2020, resulted in an Armenian military rout, with Yerevan having to cede territories in and around Nagorno Karabakh to Baku. A Russian-brokered ceasefire had been signed, involving the deployment of Russian peacekeepers, but armed clashes still regularly broke out at the border.
Despite the mediation efforts of the European Union, Washington and Moscow, the belligerents never reached a peace agreement.
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