Clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia separatists leave at least 23 dead

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Clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia separatists leave at least 23 dead

AFPUpdated 27 Sep 2020
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In this image taken from footage released by Armenian Defence Ministry on Sept 27, Armenian forces destroy Azerbaijani military vehicle at the contact line of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. — AP

A still image from a video released by the Armenian Defence Ministry shows what is said to be Azerbaijani armoured vehicles, one of which is destroyed by Armenian armed forces in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in this still image from footage released on September 27, 2020. — Reuters

In this image taken from footage released by Armenian Defence Ministry on Sept 27, Armenian forces destroy Azerbaijani military vehicle at the contact line of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. — AP

In this image taken from footage released by Armenian Defence Ministry on Sept 27, Armenian forces destroy Azerbaijani military vehicle at the contact line of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. — AP

A still image from a video released by the Armenian Defence Ministry shows what is said to be Azerbaijani armoured vehicles, one of which is destroyed by Armenian armed forces in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in this still image from footage released on September 27, 2020. — Reuters

In this image taken from footage released by Armenian Defence Ministry on Sept 27, Armenian forces destroy Azerbaijani military vehicle at the contact line of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. — AP

In this image taken from footage released by Armenian Defence Ministry on Sept 27, Armenian forces destroy Azerbaijani military vehicle at the contact line of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. — AP

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Arch foes Armenia and Azerbaijan on Sunday accused each other of initiating deadly clashes that claimed at least 23 lives over a decades-long territorial dispute and threatened to draw in regional powers Russia and Turkey.
The worst clashes since 2016 have raised the spectre of a fresh war between long-standing rivals Azerbaijan and Armenia which have been locked for decades in a territorial dispute over the Armenia-backed breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh.
Sixteen Armenian separatist fighters were killed and more than 100 wounded in fighting, rebel officials said.
Both sides also reported casualties including at least one Armenian woman and child. Baku said that an Azerbaijani family of five were killed in shelling launched by Armenian separatists.
ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD

A major confrontation between Muslim Azerbaijan and majority Christian Armenia threatened to embroil regional players Moscow and Ankara and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on global powers to prevent Turkey from getting involved in the conflict.
“We are on the brink of a full-scale war in the South Caucasus,” Pashinyan warned.
Azerbaijan's “authoritarian regime has once again declared war on the Armenian people”, he added.
France, Germany and the European Union swiftly urged an “immediate ceasefire,” while Pope Francis prayed for peace.
ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the military flareup with Pashinyan and called for “an end to hostilities”.
“The Russian side expressed serious concern over the resumption of large-scale clashes,” the Kremlin said.
But Azerbaijan's ally Turkey blamed Yerevan for the flare-up and promised Baku its “full support”.
“The Turkish people will support our Azerbaijani brothers with all our means as always,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted.
ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD

Azerbaijan accused Armenian forces of violating a ceasefire, saying it had launched a counter-offensive to “ensure the safety of the population”, using tanks, artillery missiles, combat aviation and drones.
Azerbaijan imposed martial law and a curfew in large cities and said it had captured from Armenian rebels a strategic mountain that helps control transport communications between Yerevan and the Armenian-held enclave.
'Sacred homeland'
In a televised address to the nation earlier on Sunday, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev vowed victory over Armenian forces.
“Our cause is just and we will win,” he said, echoing a famous quote from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's address at the outbreak of World War II in Russia.
“Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” he said.
Both Armenia and Karabakh declared martial law and military mobilisation.
“Get ready to defend our sacred homeland,” Pashinyan said on Facebook.
Armenia said that Azerbaijan attacked civilian settlements in Nagorny Karabakh including the main city Stepanakert.
Pashinyan's wife, Anna Hakobyan, said that she had travelled to a hospital in Stepanakert to be with her Karabakh “brothers and sisters”.
Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said there were reports of dead and wounded.
“Extensive damage has been inflicted on many homes and civilian infrastructure,” it said.
Karabakh's rights ombudsman Artak Beglaryan pointed to “civilian casualties,” while Armenia said a woman and child were killed.
'War is resuming'
Ethnic Armenian separatists seized the Nagorny Karabakh region from Baku in a 1990s war that claimed 30,000 lives.
Talks to resolve one of the worst conflicts to emerge from the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union have been largely stalled since a 1994 ceasefire agreement.
France, Russia and the United States have mediated peace efforts as the “Minsk Group” but the last big push for a peace deal collapsed in 2010.
Pope Francis told crowds on Saint Peter's Square he was praying for peace and called for “concrete gestures of good will and fraternity” from the warring sides.
Political observers said global powers should intensify talks to stop the conflict.
“We are a step away from a large-scale war,” Olesya Vartanyan of the International Crisis Group told AFP.
“One of the main reasons for the current escalation is a lack of any proactive international mediation between the sides for weeks,” she added.
“War is resuming. Time for Russia, France and US, individually and jointly, to stop it,” tweeted Dmitry Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre.
'Turkish mercenaries'
Karabakh separatist leader, Arayik Harutyunyan, accused Ankara of sending mercenaries to Azerbaijan.
On Sunday morning, Azerbaijan started “active bombing” along Karabakh's frontline including civilian targets and in Stepanakert, Karabakh's presidency said.
The rebel defence ministry said its troops shot down four Azerbaijani helicopters and 15 drones, while Baku denied the claim.
In July, heavy clashes along the two countries' shared border — hundreds of kilometres from Karabakh — claimed the lives of at least 17 soldiers from both sides.
Raising the stakes, Azerbaijan at the time threatened to strike Armenia's atomic power station if Yerevan attacked strategic facilities.
During the worst recent clashes in April 2016, around 110 people were killed.

 

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Armenia and Azerbaijan erupt into fighting over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
Published32 minutes ago

media captionTanks ablaze as fighting erupts over disputed region
Heavy fighting has erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, with both civilians and combatants killed.
Accusing Azerbaijan of air and artillery attacks, Armenia reported downing helicopters and destroying tanks, and declared martial law.
Azerbaijan said it had begun a counter-offensive in response to shelling.
The region is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic Armenians.
They broke away in the dying years of the Soviet Union. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan were part of the communist state, which sought to suppress ethnic and religious differences.
Amid the clashes, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he was confident of regaining control over the breakaway region.
Martial law has also been declared in some regions of Azerbaijan.

• Learn more about Nagorno-Karabakh
• Armenia country profile
• Azerbaijan country profile

The conflict in the Caucasus Mountains has remained unresolved for more than three decades, with periodic bouts of fighting. Border clashes in July killed at least 16 people, prompting the largest demonstration for years in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, where there were calls for the region's recapture.
On Sunday, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged support for Azerbaijan during the new crisis while Russia, traditionally seen as an ally of Armenia, called for an immediate ceasefire and talks to stabilise the situation.
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.

Emboldened by Turkish support?
By Rayhan Demytrie, BBC Caucasus correspondent
Sunday's fighting with the use of heavy weaponry along the line of control is the most serious escalation in recent years.
It is common in this decades-long conflict for both sides to accuse the other of firing the first shots and what we are seeing is not just military action but also an information war. It is difficult to independently verify official information.
Azerbaijan's claim to have "liberated" territory controlled by Armenians has been denied by the Armenian authorities. Similarly, Armenia's claims to have inflicted heavy losses on Azerbaijani forces have been dismissed by Baku. Moreover, the Azerbaijani authorities have restricted internet use inside the country, in particular access to social media.
Turkey's emphatic support may embolden Azerbaijan. Back in August, the Azerbaijani defence minister said that with the help of the Turkish military Azerbaijan would fulfil its "sacred duty" - in other words, take back its lost territories.

How did the fighting spread?
Armenia's defence ministry said an attack on civilian settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, including the regional capital Stepanakert, began at 08:10 local time (04:10 GMT) on Sunday.
A woman and child were killed, officials said. The separatist authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh said 16 of their servicemen had died, with 100 injured.
Armenia said it had shot down two helicopters and three drones, as well as destroying three tanks.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTREUTERS
image captionArmenia announced full mobilisation
Armenia's government declared martial law and total military mobilisation, shortly after a similar announcement by the authorities inside Nagorno-Karabakh.
Martial law is an emergency measure under which the military takes over the authority and functions of the civilian government.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTEPA
image captionAzerbaijan released images of what it said were damaged Armenian armoured vehicles
"Get ready to defend our sacred homeland," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said after accusing Azerbaijan of "pre-planned aggression".
Warning that the region was on the brink of a "large-scale war", and accusing Turkey of "aggressive behaviour", he urged the international community to unite to prevent any further destabilisation.

According to Azerbaijani prosecutors, five members of the same family were killed by Armenian shelling of one village in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan's defence ministry confirmed the loss of one helicopter but said the crew had survived, and reported that 12 Armenian air defence systems had been destroyed. It denied other losses reported by Armenia.
President Aliyev said he had ordered a large-scale counter-offensive operation in response to Armenian army attacks.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTEPA
image captionAzerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev went on TV
"As a result of the counter-offensive operation, a number of Azerbaijani residential areas that were under occupation have been liberated," he said in remarks broadcast on television.
"I am confident that our successful counter-offensive operation will put an end to the occupation, to the injustice, to the 30-year-long occupation."
Armenia's defence ministry denied any villages had been lost to Azerbaijan.

Nagorno-Karabakh - key facts

• A mountainous region of about 4,400 sq km (1,700 sq miles)
• Traditionally inhabited by Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks
• In Soviet times, it became an autonomous region within the republic of Azerbaijan
• Internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but majority of population is ethnic Armenian
• An estimated one million people displaced by 1990s war, and about 30,000 killed
• Separatist forces captured some extra territory around the enclave in Azerbaijan in the 1990s war
• Stalemate has largely prevailed since a 1994 ceasefire
• Russia has traditionally been seen as an ally of the Armenians

President Erdogan called Armenia "the biggest threat to peace and tranquillity in the region".
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has long been trying to mediate a settlement of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, with diplomats from France, Russia and the US - making up the OSCE Minsk Group - trying to build on a 1994 ceasefire.
Just how fragmented is the region?
Azerbaijanis are a predominantly Turkic people with whom Turkey has close ties, although unlike Turks, most Azerbaijanis are Shia, not Sunni, Muslims.
Turkey does not have relations with Armenia, a mainly Orthodox Christian country which has historically looked to Russia for support.
Iran, a mainly Shia state, has a large ethnic Azerbaijani community but maintains good relations with Russia. They and Turkey, a Nato member, back opposing sides in Syria's ongoing civil war.
Since the USSR collapsed in 1991, the ethnic divisions in Armenia and Azerbaijan have become even starker: according to an Armenian report in 2004, just 30 people in Armenia (population 3.1 million) identified as Azerbaijanis, while the 2009 census for Azerbaijan (population 9.7 million) recorded 183 Armenians living in areas other than Nagorno-Karabakh.
A 2015 census for the unrecognised "Republic of Artsakh" - or Nagorno-Karabakh (population 145,053) - records no Azerbaijanis as living there. In Soviet times, they had made up more than a fifth of the region's population.

 

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Flashpoint Nagorno-Karabakh: How the Armenian-Azeri Conflict Started and What’s at Stake
© Sputnik /
ASIA & PACIFIC
15:35 GMT 27.09.2020(updated 16:00 GMT 27.09.2020)Get short URL
by Ilya Tsukanov
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Clashes broke out in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region early Sunday morning, with Azerbaijan and Armenia accusing each other of sparking the hostilities. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been the main bone of contention in cool relations between Yerevan and Baku for over three decades.
Fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh continues to escalate, with Armenia and authorities in the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh which control the enclave declaring martial law and starting mobilizations of reserve servicemen. Baku, meanwhile, has announced martial law and declared curfews in parts of the country.
What Sparked the Fighting?
Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities have made conflicting claims about what began Sunday’s escalation.
According to the Azeri side, self-defence forces from Artsakh (the Armenian side’s name for Nagorno-Karabakh), spontaneously began massed artillery strikes on settlements and Azerbaijani military positions along the entire line of contact, causing both civilian and military casualties.
The Armenian side says it was Azerbaijan which sparked the fighting by launching massed missile, artillery and air strikes at targets inside Nagorno-Karabakh, prompting local self-defence forces to respond.

© PHOTO : MINISTRY OF DEFENCE OF ARMENIA
In this handout video grab released by the Armenian Defense Ministry, Armenian forces destroy Azerbaijani military vehicle at the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Hints of Coming Conflict
On September 25, two days before the fighting started, Armenia and Azerbaijan accused one another of building up forces along the border between the two states. A week earlier, on September 19, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he “negatively” assessed the situation surrounding negotiations with Yerevan on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, saying that “in practice, the negotiations process is not taking place.”
The Armenian and Azerbaijani militaries had already clashed directly for several weeks in July, with the fighting taking place several hundred kilometers from Nagorno-Karabakh, and leading to the deaths of 12 Azeri troops, including a major general, and six Armenian soldiers. The two sides blamed one another for that flare-up, and both claimed victory.

© AP PHOTO / RAMIL ZEYNALOV
A local woman shows damage in her house after the shelling by Armenian forces in the Tovuz region of Azerbaijan, Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Conflicting Reports on Damage, Casualties
Just as they have made conflicting claims about who started the clashes, Armenian and Azerbaijani officials have presented contradictory statements about the fighting that has taken place.
Per the Armenian side, ten Artsakh servicemen and two civilians, including a small child, were killed in Azeri shelling, which was said to include attacks on civilian areas which injured over 10 people. Yerevan says Artsakh’s self-defence units have destroyed at least ten Azeri tanks and armoured vehicles, four helicopters and 15 drones. The Azeri side says it has destroyed 12 Armenian anti-aircraft systems, and that it lost one helicopter. Baku has referred to an unspecified number of “casualties and wounded” among the military, as well as 19 civilian casualties following alleged Armenian shelling which it says prompted it to launch its counteroffensive.
Both sides have released unauthenticated footage of enemy military hardware being destroyed, with the Armenian footage allegedly showing an attack on advancing Azerbaijani tanks, while the Azeri armed forces video allegedly shows Armenian entrenched positions being destroyed in air strikes.

An assistant to President Aliyev accused Armenia of spreading “disinformation” with the tank video, suggesting that it was “old” footage that doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground.
The fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh has prompted Armenia to declare martial law and announce a full-scale mobilization of reserve servicemen under the age of 55. Azerbaijani authorities have said that they see no need for a full-scale mobilization at this point. Volunteers seeking to be drafted are said to have flocked to recruitment centers in both countries.

On Sunday afternoon, the Azeri military said it had taken control of six villages and a number of strategic heights in Nagorno-Karabakh. Artsakh’s self-defence forces dismissed these claims, calling them an “another informational provocation by the Azerbaijani propaganda machine.”

Regional Conflict Threatens to Destabilize World

In an address to the nation Sunday afternoon, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan warned that “a large scale war in the South Caucasus, on the threshold of which we are standing, could have the most unpredictable consequences and expand beyond the region, acquiring a scale which threatens international security and stability.”

“The Armenian people are ready for war, as they have always realized that the Armenophobia, enmity and hatred inculcated in Azerbaijan could not lead to anything else…Armenia is a guarantor of the security and independence of Artsakh, and will use the potential of its people and state to protect the borders of the homeland,” Pashinyan said.
In his own remarks Sunday, Azerbaijani President Aliyev warned that Armenia’s “military provocation,” which has led to “losses among the Azerbaijani military and civilian population,” would not be left “unanswered.”

© SPUTNIK / АЛЕКСЕЙ ВИТВИЦКИЙ
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Armenian President Ilham Aliyev take part in a conversation on Armenian-Azerbaijani relations at the Munich Security Conference, February 2020.
What Regional Powers are Saying
Russia has called for an “immediate” halt to hostilities between its Caucasian region partners. President Putin held telephone talks with Prime Minister Pashinyan, where he was said to have “expressed serious concern over the resumption of large-scale clashes” and the need to “make all necessary efforts to prevent a further escalation of the confrontation, and most importantly…to stop hostilities.”
The Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization military alliance, which includes Armenia, has similarly called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict via the established Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe Minsk Group process. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is said to have held talks with his Armenian, Azerbaijani and Turkish counterparts.
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Sunday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had expressed Turkey’s “full solidarity with Azerbaijan” in the wake of “Armenia’s attack.” President Aliyev’s press service confirmed to Sputnik that Erdogan had called Aliyev and “stressed that Turkey, as always, supports Azerbaijan.”
The OSCE’s Minsk group “strongly condemned” the flare-up of fighting on the conflict line, and urged the immediate halt in hostilities and the resumption of negotiations.
European Council President Charles Michel and the European Union’s foreign policy Josep Borrell expressed “concern” over the escalation of hostilities, with Michel calling for the conflict to be stopped “as a matter of urgency, to prevent a further escalation.”

‘Cliff Notes’ Summary of a Complex Conflict
A shaky ceasefire occasionally broken by fighting has been in place in Nagorno-Karabakh since 1994. The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict for the 4,400 square km piece of land-locked territory in the southern Caucasus began in the late 1980s, when a wave of nationalism unleashed by perestroika led to an explosion of animosity between Armenians and Azeris which eventually led to ethnic cleansing, pogroms, and massacres of minority communities in both Soviet republics. Amid the tensions, Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region within the Azerbaijani republic, attempted to secede from Baku. Azeri and Soviet authorities attempted to prevent this from happening, and in 1991, several weeks before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan’s parliament formally abolished the region’s autonomous status. The conflict erupted into a full-scale war in early 1992, and lasted until 1994, when Armenian forces established full de facto control of the enclave and several surrounding areas. Russia mediated a ceasefire to halt hostilities the same year, but a proper peace treaty was never signed.

© SPUTNIK / Р. МАНГАСАРЯН
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. 1993.
On Sunday, Pashinyan announced that Sunday's escalation may prompt Armenia to formally recognize the Republic of Artsakh. At the moment, the self-proclaimed breakaway republic has no formal diplomatic recognition from any United Nations member state, although it is unofficially heavily supported by Yerevan.




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