Violence on the border with Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh region escalated overnight on Saturday, reportedly with the use of tanks, artillery and military aircraft. Baku and Yerevan blame each other for triggering the hostilities.
08 April 2016
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is ready to hold a special meeting to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier told RIA Novosti.
The situation in the conflict zone in Nagorno-Karabakh has de-escalated in recent days, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Friday during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
"Azerbaijan stands for a peaceful settlement of the conflict on the basis of international law, the resolutions of the UN Security Council and other international organizations," the president said.
Aliyev also thanked Russia for its efforts aimed at restoring a ceasefire regime on the contact line in the conflict-torn region.
Azeri forces have shelled three villages in Armenian territory, the Armenian Defense Ministry reported. The villages of Karmir, Ttujur and Baganis were shelled from 120mm mortars but there were no casualties, the report said.
The Azerbaijani military fired at targets in Nagorno-Karabakh 114 times over the past 24 hours, the country’s Defense Ministry reported. It said it was responding to 110 separate instances of fire coming from the other side.
Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said one of their soldiers was killed overnight by Azeri forces.
Russian PM Medvedev discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh during a meeting with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan, the country’s capital. Medvedev assured Sargsyan that Russia will “do everything in our power as an ally and participant in the Minsk Group to channel developments in to quiet alley,” TASS reported.
The Russian PM has also come up with some unspecified proposals to resolve the conflict, which he said could be implemented “in the near future.”“The main thing now is to keep up peace, to return to the table of negotiations” he concluded.
07 April 2016
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Defense Ministry says that 36 people have been killed and 122 have been injured in the region since the conflict’s escalation on April, 2.
Authorities of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic insist on their inclusion in the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in the region, the republic’s President Bako Sahakyan has said at a briefing.
“I am grateful to the global community for the relative peace that lasted until April 2, but I have been expressing my dissatisfaction [to the OSCE] that the format of negotiations is deficient and does not allow to achieve real progress in the settlement process. I have to repeat that any initiative adopted without the participation of the NKR will not bring lasting results,” Sahakyan said, adding that “after the recent events [on the ground] the OSCE Minsk Group is obliged to restore the Republic of Artsakh [the alternate name for the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic] as part of the negotiation process.”
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have arrived in Nagorno-Karabakh’s de facto capital Stepanakert for negotiations with the unrecognized republic’s President Bako Sahakyan, according to presidential spokesman David Babayan.
“The co-chairs have arrived and are waiting for a meeting with the president,” Babayan told RIA Novosti. The meeting is to take place later on Thursday.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry says that a surveillance drone belonging to the Armenian military has been forcibly landed on the contact line of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone by Azerbaijani defense forces.
Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov says all components of the agreement to stabilize the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh are nearly ready, and Moscow is interested in resolving the conflict as soon as possible.
“I agree with the fact that almost all components of the deal are on the table. The question is not how to position, but rather how to formulate them, because in essence, we’re really close [to striking a deal],” Lavrov said.
“We are keen on resolving this conflict as soon as possible… At the same time, it is very important to take measures to prevent such outbursts of violence [in the future],” he added.
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is still far from stable, and Moscow will continue its efforts to solve the conflict, the Kremlin has stated, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
Azerbaijan is violating the truce reached on April 5, maintains the Defense Ministry of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh republic. “Last night there were multiple violations of the ceasefire along the contact line,” the ministry reports, mentioning not only the use of assorted light weapons and mortars, but also two attempts of sabotage and intelligence operations. The Armenian armed forces stopped both attempts to penetrate their defenses and pushed the raiding parties back to their initial positions.
Watch the latest on Nagorno-Karabakh from RT’s Murad Gazdiev and Ilya Petrenko
The Azerbaijan Defense Ministry says Armenian armed forces violated the ceasefire 119 times over the last 24 hours. “Azerbaijan is committed to the armistice,” said Vagif Dyargyakhly, a spokesman for the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry.
06 April 2016
Russia fully supports the OSCE Minsk Group in its efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, stressing that it was very important to develop confidence-based measures.
“We fully support the initiatives which are now being worked through by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and with the assistance of the OSCE and the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) it is very important to create confidence-based measures [for solving the conflict],” Lavrov said.
In a telephone conversation, the presidents of Iran and Armenia agreed on the need to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Press Service of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan reported.
The conversation took place at the initiative of the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani.
“The two presidents agreed that the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh can’t have a military solution,” the press service reported.
Sargsyan compared the havoc wrought on the civilian population in the area by the Azerbaijani military to the practices of known terrorist groups, according to the report.
Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces are being accused of breaking a ceasefire according to Nagorno-Karabakh defense forces. The head of the Nagorno-Karabakh army, Viktor Arstamyan, said that mortar, machine gun and small arms fire is continuing along the whole border with Azerbaijan.
Arstamyan also stated that on Wednesday morning, Azerbaijani armed groups, with up to 15 members each, have been on the offensive and tried to take two defensive posts. However, both attempts were repelled.
The Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that six civilians have been killed with a further 26 injured, following Armenian gunfire. Baku added that since April 2, Armenia has increased its attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh.
“The Armenian Armed Forces undertook a number of deliberate attacks on areas which were highly populated by civilians As a result, six people were killed, 26 were injured, while 232 homes were damaged,” a statement from the ministry read.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry has rejected allegations from Azerbaijan that Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces continue to fire on Azeri positions.
The armed forces of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh republic “practically do not shoot,” said Ministry of Defense press secretary Artsrun Hovhannisyan. Firefights are no longer intensive, though the Azerbaijani side is occasionally shelling Armenian positions with tanks.
Thirty-one Azeri servicemen have been killed in the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, the country’s Defense Ministry has said, as quoted by TASS.
Azerbaijan is in control of ‘freed territories’ in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s spokesperson Vagif Dargyakhly 0told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
The forces of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic have seized all positions previously taken by Azerbaijani forces during battles at the north of the contact line.
However, Baku has kept control over three heights in the south, minister-counsel of Nagorno-Karabakh’s permanent delegation to Russia Arsen Melik-Shakhnazarov has said at a press conference in Moscow, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
“The only position change as of today is the three locations Azerbaijan managed to keep in control… These are 300-400 square meters on the southern frontiers, on the border with Iran, but these are quite important heights,” he added.
There are no preliminary conditions in the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire, Armenian Foreign Ministry deputy head Shavarsh Kocharyan has said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
In about a fortnight, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is set to visit the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The visit will take place on April 21-22, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at her daily briefing, as quoted by RIA-Novosti news agency.
“During the visit, it is planned to discuss important issues related to the regional agenda with Armenian top officials, exchange opinions on the Eurasian agenda,” Zakharova has said.
However, she emphasized that the visit will focus on stabilizing the situation in the region.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is set to meet his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov on Wednesday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has announced.
“Certainly, bilateral communication will take place,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at her daily briefing, as quoted by Interfax news agency.
“Top Russian officials are applying a lot of effort to return to normal conditions [in the region],” Zakharova added.
Lavrov’s visit to Azerbaijan will last for two days.
Firing at the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh continues, but with less intensity, an Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman has said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved as soon as possible, and negotiations to end the crisis should be more intensive, OSCE co-chairs from the Minsk group have stated, as cited by the Azeri state news agency Azertag.
Among the OSCE co-chairs who arrived in Baku for talks, are Igor Popov (Russia), James Warlick (the US) and Pierre Andrier (France).
The statement was made during the OSCE co-chairs’ meeting with Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev.
The chiefs of the General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan held a meeting in Moscow on April 5, at which they agreed to enact an immediate ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, said Armenia’s defense minister as cited by Russian media.
“On April 5, the chiefs of defense of the two countries met in Moscow and reached a ceasefire agreement,”Armenia’s Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan announced at a government meeting on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry flatly denied any ceasefire violation, stressing that the situation on the contact line remains “tense but stable,” reports APA news. Azeri armed forces are strictly complying with the ceasefire enacted at noon on April 5 and continue to strengthen their defensive positions, reports state.
Sporadic firefights have not influenced the general ceasefire established in Nagorno-Karabakh on April 5, a source from the unrecognized republic’s Defense Ministry told Interfax. The ministry claims it is in full control of the situation on the contact line with Azerbaijani forces. The press-secretary of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, Hikmet Gadzhiev, earlier announced that Baku is ready to stop military action only if Armenian forces retreat from the territories they control in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry says Armenian armed forces have allegedly violated the ceasefire on the line of contact 115 times in the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
05 April 2016
The escalating Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is to dominate the discussion at the upcoming meeting of the Russian, Iranian, Azeri and Armenian foreign ministers in Baku scheduled for Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
“It’s very important to restart the process of peaceful settlement and to stop the violence. A trilateral meeting of the Iranian, Azeri, and Russian foreign ministers had been planned before the situation escalated… It’s obvious that the subject of Nagorno-Karabakh will be in the center of attention,” she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone conversations with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts on Tuesday, the Kremlin's press service reported. While speaking to Serzh Sargsyan and Ilkham Aliev, Putin called on both sides to enforce a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, and assured the leaders of Moscow's intermediary efforts to normalize the situation in the region.
Representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group member states, spearheading efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as the incoming Austrian OSCE Chair (2017) and the Serbian OSCE Chair (2015), have strongly condemned the outbreak of violence along the Line of Contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh area. They urge the sides to stop hostilities immediately, stressing there is no military solution to the conflict. “The deterioration of the situation on the ground demonstrates the need for an immediate negotiation, under the auspices of the Co-chairs, on a comprehensive settlement. The representatives of the Minsk Group affirm their support for the Russian, American, and French Co-Chairs’ mediation efforts and welcome their plans to undertake direct consultations with the sides as soon as possible,” the official statement from the group stated.
Twenty military vehicles have been destroyed and 70 enemy soldiers killed during the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, along with 16 members of the Azerbaijan Armed Forces, according to the country’s Defense Ministry. Three enemy battle tanks were destroyed on the eve of April 4, leading to the deaths of the troops inside, the press service of the department said. The video posted on the ministry’s website claims to show one of the enemy vehicles.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has said the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be resolved by force, calling on all sides for immediate ceasefire. “The conflict cannot be resolved by force. To that end, we call for an immediate de-escalation and the resumption of the truce,” he said.
One of the largest Armenian military bases in Nagorno-Karabakh has been destroyed, according to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. The video posted on the ministry’s official website appears to show the destruction of the facility. The ministry noted the base was located on the road leading to the city of Agder (Martakert).
Armenian hackers have released online information on 25,000 Azeri servicemen, RIA Novosti has reported, citing Armenian media expert Samvel Martirosyan.
He added that the data was hacked by a group called the Monte Melkonian Cyber Army.
It comes a few days after the same group announced that it had hacked the website of the Azerbaijan government.
Karabakh's Defense Ministry has been ordered to cease fire, according to its press service.
However, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry says it has no information on any ceasefire agreements, Reuters reports.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has on Tuesday condemned alleged “Armenian attacks” in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, saying that Turkey will continue to stand by Azerbaijan in the conflict.
A shell fired by Armenian forces has landed in northern Iran, though no casualties have been reported, according to the Fars news agency.
"In the context of clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a shell fell in the garden of a home in the Koda-Afarin region, causing damage but no victims" on Monday, Fars quoted Said Shabestari, the deputy governor of Iran's West Azerbaijan region, as saying.
Iran has diplomatic relations with both countries and has urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to show restraint.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of breaking a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerevan’s deputy foreign minister, Shavarsh Kocharyan, says that Azerbaijan has launched a large-scale offensive over the last few days, which is a violation of the ceasefire agreement, while there have also been “large-scale violations of international humanitarian law and human rights.”
Meanwhile, Baku’s deputy foreign minister, Khlaif Kalafov, says that all the responsibility is with Armenia, which he says is not interested in bringing the conflict under control and is ignoring international law.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian forces say they have downed another Azeri drone, the Armenian Defense Ministry claims. It was reported earlier that one of the drones shot down by Armenia was an Israeli-made kamikaze UAV Harop armed with a high-explosive warhead.
Watch the latest on Nagorno-Karabakh from RT’s Murad Gazdiev
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has acknowledged 16 casualties among its troops since long-standing tensions flared up again on April 2.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has reported the destruction of 20 military vehicles and the killing of 70 Armenian troops over the last 24 hours. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson Artsrun Ovannisyan has accused Baku of using the BM-30 Smerch (Whirlwind) multiple launch rocket system, a 12-rocket system capable of firing missiles with a payload of up to 250kg, to a distance of 90km.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry says the Armenian military shelled settlements north-east and south-east of the Armenian-Azeri contact line during the night. “Armenians have been actively shelling the settlements in the direction of Aghdara [Martakert] and Fizuli [Varanda] along the contact line in Karabakh since night,” Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Vagif Dyargyakhly told RIA Novosti. Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Gasanov ordered forces to be ready to launch a missile attack on Khankendi, the unofficial capital of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Through its actions, the Armenian side has prompted the attack on Khankendi, the spokesman added.
04 April 2016
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Defense Ministry said that the Azerbaijani side has been shelling civilian settlements along the Karabakh-Azerbaijani contact line.
“The Azerbaijani side is particularly “striving” in the northern and southern directions,” Senor Asatryan, press-secretary of the Defense Ministry for Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, told RIA Novisti. The city of Martuni was shelled for the first time today, while shelling has continued in villages in the Martakert area.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Army has said that 20 people have been killed and 72 more injured in clashes with Azeri forces over the past three days, according to a report on Armenian television, citing the Nagorno-Karabakh military.
The Armenian Defense Ministry's press secretary has promised a “proportionate blow” will follow the Azerbaijan Army's actions if it does not stop its shelling in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry have both called for an immediate halt to hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. The pair also discussed opinions about how to continue the fight against Islamic State in Syria, as well as the continuation of UN-backed talks between the Syrian government and all opposition parties who are interested in a peaceful outcome. The statement, following a telephone call between Lavrov and Kerry, was published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.
German foreign minister and head of the OSCE, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has confirmed that the Minsk Group spearheading the OSCE's efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will meet in Vienna on April 5 to discuss the recent escalation of conflict in the disputed region. Earlier, he called for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict zone. Steinmeier added that he sees “no military solution in this conflict.”
The Azerbaijan Defense Ministry has released footage of a counterattack by its military on an Armenian troops’ command post, showing the destruction of the facility.
The Azerbaijan Defense Ministry says its national military has launched a massive offensive in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. Vagif Dyargyakhly, a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, says Armenian forces have lost 170 troops and its 12 armored vehicles have been destroyed.
Armenia’s president has ordered the Foreign Ministry to launch preparations to sign a military cooperation treaty with Nagorno-Karabakh.
If military action continues to expand, Armenia is going to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, warned Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.
Baku gave a precondition for the ceasefire, which involves “liberating the occupied territories and restitution of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.”
Turkey’s statement on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh could encourage the creation of a new volatile area in the region, said Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Azerbaijan must hold direct negotiations with the authorities of Nagorno-Karbakh, the Armenian leader said. Both Armenia and the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh call for the immediate retreat of all sides to the positions they occupied as of April 1, 2015, Sargsyan said.
France informs that a meeting of Nagorno-Karabakh mediators is to be held in Vienna on April 5.
Watch the latest on Nagorno-Karabakh from RT’s Murad Gazdiev
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Baku and Yerevan need “as soon as possible, immediately to stop violating the ceasefire, to stop creating difficulties for renewed efforts to move towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict” in Nagorno-Karabakh. The comment was made Monday during a joint press conference with Moldovan FM Natalia Gherman in Moscow.
Armenia has lost 30 servicemen, three tanks and an artillery battery in the Nagorno-Karabakh war zone, RIA Novosti cites the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.
Georgia could become a mediator in negotiations between the warring parties in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Chief of General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces Vakhtang Kapanadze said on Monday. Tbilisi remains in close contact with both Baku and Yerevan, and would like to see an end to the hostilities as soon as possible, Kapanadze stressed.
The authorities at Stepanakert, the capital of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, have denied the elimination of the Armenian command post in the conflict zone.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry alleges that an Armenian battle command center deployed to the Nargorno-Karabakh district has been destroyed.
A ferocious battle is ongoing along the frontline of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the Armenian Defense Ministry reports. There are an estimated 150,000 civilians living in the conflict zone that are likely to leave if the conflict continues, according to UN data.
Yerevan has denied Baku’s allegations about “heavy casualties” among its military forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Some 33 people have died and over 200 have been injured in just two days (April 2-3), during the escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the UN reports. Among the deceased there are 30 military personnel and three civilians. Fighting continues near three settlements, which have a combined estimated population of 14,400. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have refused international humanitarian aid, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
The Azerbaijan Defense Ministry has denied an allegation that three of its tanks have been destroyed on the battlefield in Nagorno-Karabakh. “This is disinformation. There’s no talk about elimination of our military’s tanks,” Vagif Dyargyakhly, a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, told media. Armenia’s Defense Ministry said earlier that Azerbaijan’s armed forces have launched an offensive in the disputed region.
The frontline positions of Nagorno-Karabakh militia and nearby Armenian villages were shelled with artillery and mortar fire throughout the night, the breakaway region’s press service reports. The shelling intensified at 07:00am (3:00 GMT), with the Azerbaijani military using 152mm howitzers, Grad multiple-launch rocket systems and tanks.
Fierce fighting has erupted in the Aghdara/Martakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azeri Defense Ministry spokesman told RIA in early hours of Monday morning.
"There were fierce battles in the Aghdara direction during the night. The situation is under the control of the Azerbaijani Air Forces. The Air Force is also exerting control over the territories liberated on Saturday,” spokesman Vagif Dyargahly told the news outlet.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is willing to act as a mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"We are ready to assist and support those affected by the recent escalation of fighting, as well as to act as a neutral intermediary between the parties," Patrick Vial, head of ICRC operations for the region, said on Sunday.
"All sides to the conflict have an obligation to respect the rules of international humanitarian law. As per these rules, the parties must ensure that civilian life and infrastructure is protected," he added.
Canada urged the sides in the conflict to work towards a peaceful, negotiated solution.
"Canada is concerned by the recent escalation of violence between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. We call on all sides to show restraint, immediately return to a true ceasefire, and actively resume dialogue within the framework of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group," country’s foreign minister Stephane Dion said in a statement.
Political means should be used to settle the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the head of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) said on Sunday.
"The position of the CSTO member countries on that matter has been announced more than once - they insist on cessation of hostilities and peace settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” said CSTO's Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha. “Its continuation is fraught with destabilization of the situation in the entire Caucasian region. One thing is crystal clear - all need only peace."
The Turkish Foreign Minister has sided with Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict escalation, saying that the disputed territory must be returned to Baku through peaceful means.
"It (the problem along the contact line) should be solved within the framework of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity," Cavusoglu told reporters in Turkey's southern province of Antalya, Anadolu Agency quotes.
03 April 2016
The Azerbaijan Ministry of Defense says it has shot down an Armenian UAV, over Nagorno-Karabakh. An Azeri spokesman said the incident was a "provocation."
Azerbaijan has opened a criminal case after two civilians were killed and 10 more wounded in Armenia's shelling of settlements near the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a statement by the prosecutor general's office and the Interior Ministry.
Watch the latest on Nagorno-Karabakh from RT’s Murad Gazdiev
The Armenian side has launched intensive shelling of settlements along the contact line, a spokesman of the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti. “The ceasefire regime is violated. Settlements are at risk,” he said adding that Azeri forces still control territories seized on April 2.
Turkey tacitly supports the continuation of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, said Armenia’s deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan.
“It is a shame that human casualties are being assigned a price by Turkey according to race and nationality. Turkey’s racist stance only adds fire to the violence being perpetrated on the self-determined Nagorno-Karabakh Republic."
At least two people have been killed during the shelling by the Armenian Army in the conflict zone in Nagorno-Karabakh, the general prosecutor’s officer in Azerbaijan said, adding that 10 civilians have been injured.
Artillery fire from both sides is being heard near the town of Martakert in Nagorno-Karabakh, a Sputnik correspondent on the scene reports.
At least 100 Armenian soldiers have been killed and 100 others injured during the fighting on the frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said in a statement, as cited by RIA Novosti.
The fighting is ongoing on the frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia’s Defence Ministry said, as cited by TASS.
Armenian forces have “launched a counter-attack,” the Armenian Defense Ministry said, adding that their forces have taken over a “height of tactical value” near the village of Talish in the Martakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh, “which was occupied earlier by Azerbaijani troops.”
Azerbaijan has decided to unilaterally cease all hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, the country's Defense Ministry said, adding that it would resume military action if attacked.
“Based on our love of peace and the calls of international organizations, Azerbaijan decided to unilaterally cease military response action,” ministry spokesman Vagif Dyargahly said.
The forces of breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh have destroyed at least 15 Azerbaijan infantry vehicles in the last 24 hours, Senor Asratyan from the NKR Defense Ministry’s press office told RIA Novosti.
Armenia has violated the ceasefire 130 times in 24 hours in the Karabakh conflict zone, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti. Those included fire from mortars, heavy machine guns and grenade launchers, a spokesman for the ministry said.
Karabakh military, which are considered Armenian by Azerbaijan, reported continued artillery shelling from Azerbaijan on their position. Azerbaijan said its military have fired almost 140 barrages since Friday, when violence escalated in the region.
The Situation on the border remains tense, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry spokesman told Sputnik, reporting that sporadic shellings had not been resulting in casualties.
“The situation remains tense. The are no casualties on the Azerbaijani side…,” Vaqif Dergahli said. “Azerbaijani villages along the front line were shelled.”
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry insists that no active military operations are continuing at the north and south-east of the region.
"The situation is stable and under control of the Azerbaijani armed forces. There is no fighting at the moment," head of Azerbaijani Ministry press-service Vagif Dyargahly stated.
Around one thousand volunteers from Nagorno-Karabakh are ready to be deployed to the conflict zone in the southeast and north of the volatile region, RIA reports.
02 April 2016
The administration of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region has refuted the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s previous claims that the fighting has ceased.
“Active fighting is continuing in the southeast and north of Nagorno-Karabakh,” a representative from the administration told RIA.
An exchange of fire in the Karabakh conflict zone has drawn to a close, Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said. “An exchange of fire on the contact line has ceased. The situation is stable,” the ministry’s spokesman told journalists adding that Azeri forces “are ready for any actions of the Armenian side.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan are continuing to throw accusations at one another, chief of Sputnik Azerbaijan, Aziz Aliev, told RT. While the violence has calmed down, official information about the casualties remains scarce.
“The Azerbaijan side officially confirmed that 12 Azeri soldiers were killed, and admitted that the country’s helicopter was shot down and that the tank was blown up on a mine,” he said. As for civilian death toll, Azerbaijan confirmed that one child was killed. Aliev said there has been no official data confirming that any other civilians were killed.
Aliev also warned against blindly trusting unconfirmed reports and sources, which due to the scarcity of official data appear online on a large scale, with old information and footage often presented as current events.
Armenia should sign a treaty on military cooperation with the Narogno Karabakh republic, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at the emergency meeting of the National Security Council. “The agreement should be drawn up, discussed and sent to the parliament,” he said as quoted by Sputnik Armenia. The president also stressed that Armenia will fully meet its obligations for enhancing the security of Nagorno Karabakh. “We have a legal right for it as we are one of the parties to the ceasefire agreement signed in 1994,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the “inaction” of the OSCE Minsk Group for a recent escalation in hostilities in the Karabakh region during a speech at the opening of a Muslim community center in the US. “If the Minsk Group had resolved the issue in due time, we would not be witnessing the incidents at the contact line today,” he said as quoted by the Turkish Aksam newspaper.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT!
Azerbaijan is ready to find a military resolution to the conflict, Azeri ambassador to Russia said in an interview with the “Govorit Moskva” (Moscow Speaks) radio station. “Attempts to resolve this conflict peacefully have been taking place for 22 years… We are ready to the peaceful resolution of the issue but if it is not the case, then we will resolve it through military force,” he said as cited by the radio station.
18 Armenian soldiers were killed and 35 more injured as a result of the recent escalation in hostilities, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan said at the National Security Council meeting. He also said that “since the restoration of the truce in 1994, it’s the most large-scale warfare, which Azerbaijan has tried to carry out.” Sargsyan said that “timely actions” of the Armenian troops allowed them to “take the situation under control.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev over the deaths of Azeri soldiers in the recent clashes in Nagorno Karabakh, Anadolu news agency reports.
NATO is concerned about ceasefire violations in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and it is urging all sides to stabilize the situation, the Alliance’s Special Representative for Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai said in his Twitter post.
OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier called on all parties to the Karabakh conflict to return to the negotiating table.
Azerbaijan has lost 200 soldiers in clashes with the forces of the unrecognized breakaway Nagorno Karabakh republic, the republic’s defense ministry said in a twitter post. The ministry also added that the republic’s forces killed 30 soldiers from Azeri Special Forces unit and destroyed two tanks, two drones and one helicopter.
“The situation on the contact line … remains tense,” the ministry’s spokesperson said, as quoted by Interfax. The ministry’s press service also added that “the most large-scale clashes are taking place in the southern direction with the enemy forces using armored vehicles… and rocket artillery.”
A video published on YouTube by the defense ministry of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic claims to show the wreckage of the Azeri Mi-24 military helicopter, which was reportedly downed by the Karabakh forces earlier on Saturday. Parts of the helicopter rotor and the aircraft’s tail as well as some of its armament can be seen in the footage.
A volunteer detachment is being formed in the Nagorno Karabakh republic capital of Stepanakert in order to be sent to the contact line, Sputnik Armenia reported.
Azerbaijan will continue efforts aimed at the peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said in his speech at the Nuclear Security Summit in the US adding that “the conflict should be settled on the basis of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.”
Armenian defense ministry disproved Azerbaijan’s claims concerning Armenian operational losses as well as territory seizures by Azeri forces. “Reports concerning Azerbaijan’s forces taking control over different settlements on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as killing a hundred of Armenian soldiers and [destroying] dozens of military equipment are misinformation and have nothing in common with reality,” the Defense Minister’s spokesman wrote on his Facebook page.
German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier called for a ceasefire in the Karabakh conflict zone. “I call on all parties [to the conflict] to cease hostilities and fully observe the truce,” he said adding that “there can be no military solution to this conflict,” TASS reports.
“The parties should show their political will to return to negotiations within the Minsk Group,” the minister added expressing his “full support” to the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini called on all parties to the conflict “to stop the fighting immediately and observe the ceasefire” in a statement published on the EU’s official website. She also added that the EU “deplores the loss of life, in particular the reports of civilian casualties and deaths,” and “fully supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group and the three Co-Chairs.”
The Armenian Defense Ministry denied that Armenia started mobilizing in view of the recent escalation of violence in the Karabakh conflict zone, TASS reports.
Azerbaijan claimed that its forces took control of several strategic heights and settlements in the Karabakh conflict zone. Azeri troops are strengthening and enhancing positions on the recently seized territories, a defense ministry spokesman told journalists. He also added that Azeri forces managed to “destroy six Armenian tanks, 15 artillery pieces… and killed more than 100 [Armenian] soldiers,” as reported by RIA Novosti.
Azerbaijan’s defense ministry also confirmed that 12 Azeri soldiers died in the recent clashes adding that the country’s forces also lost a tank and a helicopter.
The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group have condemned the escalation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, the group’s statement says. The co-chairs expressed “deep concern over the large-scale ceasefire violations that are occurring at the contact line in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone,” the statement adds. “The co-chairs call on the parties in the conflict to cease fire and take all necessary measures to stabilize the situation in the region,” the document adds, emphasizing “there is no alternative to a peaceful settlement of the conflict.”
PAN Photo / Areg Balayan
One teenager has been killed and six more civilians injured in Azeri shelling, according to the health ministry of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic, as cited by Interfax. All injured people have been hospitalized, including two teenage students, who suffered severe injuries, the ministry added.
The OSCE Minsk group comprised of Russian, US and French representatives will discuss the situation the next week, TASS reports.
Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolay Bordyuzha has discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh with the Armenian defense and foreign ministers in a telephone conversation. “The sides have come to a clear understating of necessity… to cease fire…” The secretary general’s press secretary told journalists. The press secretary added that the Karabakh conflict “has no military solution and should be resolved through negotiations held within international mechanisms.”
The Armenian foreign minister has discussed the escalation of hostilities with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, and with the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Herbert Salber, as well as with the OSCE officials, RIA Novosti reports.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the escalation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, as reported by TASS. The Armenian Foreign Ministry denounced the escalation of violence and blamed Azerbaijan for it, calling the incident Azerbaijan’s “attempt to talk in terms of blackmail.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has held phone talks with his Armenian and Azeri counterparts and called for the cessation of hostilities, the ministry’s spokesperson told journalists.
Armenia is ready to take all necessary steps to stabilize the situation in the region, the country’s prime minister said during an emergency cabinet meeting. He also blamed Azerbaijan for the escalation of hostilities saying it was part of “Azerbaijan’s policy aimed at stalling the political reconciliation process” in the region.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has held emergency phone calls with his Armenian and Azeri counterparts, urging them to take measures to stabilize the situation in the disputed region.
Russia has started consultations on the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region with other members of the OSCE Minsk group, Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova told journalists.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said Azerbaijan lost a tank and an unmanned aircraft in clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh. Earlier, the ministry said Azeri troops lost a helicopter, which Azerbaijan denies. At the same time, the defense ministry of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic claimed the republic’s forces managed to destroy two Azeri helicopters, three tanks and two drones.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed deep concern over the resumption of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and urged all the parties in the conflict to immediately cease-fire and show restraint in order to prevent civilian casualties, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
The Armenian Defense Ministry called on the Minsk OSCE group consisting of US, Russian and French representatives to “react” in order to “keep the situation under control and to prevent large-scale hostilities.”
The Armenian and Azeri defense ministries have accused each other of provoking the escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh region and breaking the ceasefire regime. Armenia’s Defense Ministry confirmed information about heavy clashes between the Azeri Army and the Karabakh troops. Overnight on Saturday, “the enemy forces launched an offensive alongside the contact line in southern, south-eastern and north-eastern directions using artillery, armored vehicles and aircraft,” the ministry said, adding that “fierce clashes” are taking place “along the entire contact line.”
Azerbaijan accused Armenia of intensive shelling of some border settlements calling the actions of its troops “retaliation measures.” Overnight on April 2, “all Azerbaijan’s army positions alongside the front line came under intensive shelling by Armenian heavy artillery, mortars and grenade launchers,” they said.
Azeri troops have launched an offensive against the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic using tanks, artillery and aircraft, Karabakh’s Defense Ministry said. Azerbaijan’s army “shelled civilian settlements as well as some military bases,” the ministry’s press service said in a statement, also reporting “heavy clashes” between the forces of the unrecognized republic and Azeri troops.