Another artillery installation of the Armenian armed forces formations was destroyed by precise fire, Report informs citing the Ministry of Defense.
Day: September 19, 2023
Azerbaijan increased its military build-up around Nagorno-Karabakh in the run-up to Tuesday’s operation
Azerbaijan has launched “anti-terror” operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, and said it will not stop until ethnic-Armenian separatists surrender.
Tensions in the South Caucasus have been high for months around the breakaway enclave, recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan and Armenia last went to war three years ago.
Baku ordered “Illegal Armenian military formations” to hand over arms and dissolve their “illegal regime”.
Azerbaijan and Armenia first went to war in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. Then in 2020 Azerbaijan recaptured areas in and around Nagorno-Karabakh before a truce was agreed and monitored by Russian peacekeepers.
Ethnic Armenians in Karabakh appealed on Tuesday for a ceasefire and for talks to start. But it was clear from the Azerbaijani ultimatum that Baku’s aim was to complete its conquest of the mountainous enclave.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of starting a ground operation aimed at “ethnic cleansing”.
But hundreds of Armenian protesters, frustrated by their country’s response, clashed with police outside parliament in Yerevan, condemning their leader as a traitor and calling on him to resign.
Azerbaijan said talks could start in the town of Yevlakh, some 100km (60km) north of the Karabakh regional capital of Khankendi, called Stepanakert by ethnic Armenians.
IMAGE SOURCE,SARGSYAN/OC MEDIA/EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK Buildings and vehicles were damaged by shelling in the Karabakh regional capital
Since the end of 2020, 3,000 Russians have monitored the fragile truce but Moscow’s attention has been diverted by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
An estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians live in the mountainous enclave. Russia said its soldiers were evacuating civilians from Karabakh and had moved almost 500 from the most at-risk areas.
For the past nine months Azerbaijan has imposed an effective blockade on the only route into the enclave from Armenia, known as the Lachin Corridor.
Azerbaijan said it had launched its operation in response to the deaths of six people, including four police, in two fatal landmine explosions on Tuesday morning.
Air raid sirens then rang out and the sound of artillery and gunfire could be heard in Karabakh’s main city. Residential buildings were damaged and journalist Siranush Sargsyan described seeing a building next door being hit.
Karabakh officials said five people had been killed and dozens more wounded, including women and children.
Defence officials in the breakaway region said the Azerbaijani military had “violated the ceasefire along the entire line of contact with missile-artillery strikes”. Other Karabakh representatives spoke of a “large-scale military offensive” although later reports said that the intensity of fire had decreased.
The Azerbaijan defence ministry insisted it was not targeting civilians or civilian buildings, and that “only legitimate military targets are being incapacitated by the use of high-precision weapons”.
It accused Armenian forces of “systematic shelling” of its army positions and said it had responded by launching “local, anti-terrorist activities… to disarm and secure the withdrawal of formations of Armenia’s armed forces from our territories”.
IMAGE SOURCE,AZERBAIJAN DEFENCE MINISTRY Azerbaijani officials posted images of what they said was the aftermath of a deadly landmine blast
In a brief televised address, Armenia’s prime minister rejected claims that his military was involved.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it had been warned of the Azerbaijani offensive only minutes in advance and urged both countries to respect a ceasefire signed after the war in 2020. The EU’s regional special representative, Toivo Klaar, said there was “urgent need for immediate ceasefire”.
South Caucasus commentator Laurence Broers said on Tuesday the Armenian population in Karabakh had been weakened by the blockade and the Azerbaijan operation had been launched “seemingly to retake Armenian-populated Karabakh in its entirety”.
Nikol Pashinyan said recently that Russia was “spontaneously leaving the region”. Azerbaijan has meanwhile had strong support from its ally Turkey.
Hikmet Hajiyev, special adviser to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, called on the separatist ethnic-Armenian administration to “dissolve itself”.
“Azerbaijan has always said we are ready to provide rights and security of Karabakh Armenians under the constitution,” he told BBC News.
Azerbaijan had denied building up troop numbers in the region. On Monday, it allowed aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross into Karabakh on two roads, one via the Lachin Corridor from Armenia and the other on Azerbaijan’s Aghdam road.
Before Tuesday’s offensive began there had been hopes that tensions might subside.
The Azerbaijan defence ministry released images of a vehicle which it said were destroyed by a land mine, but ethnic Armenian officials said it was Azerbaijan’s military that had violated the ceasefire.
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Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Yuri Kim within the framework of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
The latest developments in the region and the response measures taken by the Azerbaijani side to the provocations of the Armenian armed forces illegally deployed in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan were discussed at the meeting, Report informs with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The situation in the South Caucasus, mainly in the Garabagh
region, is becoming more tense lately. This tension is felt not
only in the region, but also in the brotherly country Turkiye.
Thus, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a statement on
the way to the solution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani issue in
Garabagh at a press conference held in Istanbul before leaving for
the UN General Conference. President Erdogan proposed a tripartite
meeting with Azerbaijan and Armenia on the Garabagh issue. In
addition to the tripartite meeting, he also sent a proposal to
Russia for a quadrilateral meeting.
It should also be noted that before this speech, a bilateral
meeting between the President of Turkiye and the President of
Russia Vladimir Putin took place. It is no secret that the Garabagh
issue was also touched upon in that meeting.
As we know, except for Russia, the Western countries that do not
belong to the region also have a special interest in the South
Caucasus, especially in the Armenia-Azerbaijan issue. However, this
interest mostly consists of pro-Armenian and biased policy against
Azerbaijan. It is likely that Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, who is aware of this, put forward a proposal to Russia,
not the West, to resolve the Garabagh issue. If this is the case,
the reaction of the West is extremely important.
Also, the European Parliament presented a report on Turkiye’s
withdrawal from the European Union. Most likely, this report is
related to Turkiye’s legitimate concern about the Garabagh issue.
However, Erdoğan, in his turn, also noted that Turkiye can part
ways with the European Union in the future if necessary.
“First of all, I would like to note that a big risk is emerging
in the region. Especially the so-called elections held by Armenia
in Garabagh, the collection of weapons and ammunition, 10,000
soldiers stationed in Garabagh, the militarization of the civilian
population into terrorists, the armed conflicts that occur day by
day, all have a meaning. President Erdogan’s speech is an effort
intended to eliminate the risk arising from all this. I hope this
threat will be averted. However, I would like to point out that the
situation is extremely delicate and critical. I think this has
already reached a very dangerous level.”
Turkish expert Abdullah Aghar mentioned these words in his
comment to AZERNEWS while clarifying the ongoing
processes.
According to him, the goal is to build peace through
negotiations. That is, it means the restoration of full sovereignty
of the territories returned by Armenia after the 44-day war.
Otherwise, the matter will be extremely sensitive. Because the
processes have become so dangerous that they hinder Azerbaijan’s
sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unitary structure. All this
should be taken into account.
As for the interest of the West in the processes in the region
and the fact that President Erdogan invited Russia, not the West,
to discuss the solution of the Garabagh issue, the expert noted
that the Western countries are keen to take the initiative in the
South Caucasus and Central Asia. However, the West should not
forget that it does not belong to this region. Therefore, this
issue should be discussed first by countries living in the same
geography.
“This approach of the West makes the problem worse. Moreover, it
leads to the emergence of greater risks. Therefore, it is extremely
important to try to resolve this process in some way through
countries that have influence, effectiveness and borders in the
region,” the expert said.
In conclusion, the Turkish expert clarified the report on
Turkiye at the EU Parliament.
“The European Parliament recently published a report. The report
stated that it is impossible for Turkiye to become a member of the
European Union under their certain required conditions. However,
they want to exclude Turkiye from normal membership and proposed to
develop real and parallel cooperation. I think this is not an
accepted membership forum. Turkiye’s declaration of will regarding
the European Union, especially at the Vilnius summit, is not
limited only to the European Union. This is an extremely important
geopolitical development that builds trust and strengthens the
geopolitical and strategic partnership with the West. But it seems
that the EU’s behavior with double standards does not meet the
requirements of this report. If the European Union continues to
behave like this, Turkiye may eventually have to approach from a
completely different paradigm,” Abdullah Aghar added.
—
Rena Murshud is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @RenaTagiyeva
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