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More casualties as Armenian and Azerbaijani forces clash for second day More casualties as Armenian and Azerbaijani forces clash for second day
(about 7 hours later)
Both sides accuse each other of using heavy military in dispute over breakaway region of Nagorno-KarabakhBoth sides accuse each other of using heavy military in dispute over breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh
Fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over a disputed region entered a second day on Monday, with reports of 15 more soldiers killed and both sides accusing each other of using heavy artillery. Dozens of soldiers have been killed in the second day of clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces over a disputed south Caucasus region, with international calls mounting for an immediate ceasefire.
Hundreds more are said to have been wounded in the fiercest clashes since 2016 in the South Caucasus, a region that provides crucial transit routes for gas and oil to the international market. Civilians have also been killed and are said to be among the hundreds wounded in thethe fiercest clashes since 2016 in an area that provides crucial transit routes for gas and oil to the international market.
Tensions between the countries have been growing for months over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an enclave legally considered to be part of Azerbaijan but which has been run by ethnic Armenians since it declared independence in 1991.Tensions between the countries have been growing for months over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an enclave legally considered to be part of Azerbaijan but which has been run by ethnic Armenians since it declared independence in 1991.
The Armenian defence ministry reported fighting throughout the night on Sunday, while Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said Armenian forces were shelling the town of Terter. Fighting was reported overnight on Sunday and throughout Monday, with both sides accusing each other of using heavy artillery, targeting civilians and deploying foreign mercenaries.
Azerbaijan’s president declared a partial military mobilisation. Interfax news agency quoted an Armenian defence ministry representative as saying 200 Armenians had been wounded. The authority that runs Nagorno-Karabakh said 28 more of its troops had been killed in fighting with Azerbaijani forces, bringing its total number of casualties to 59. The territory’s defence ministry has also reported two civilian deaths, a woman and her grandson.
At least 16 troops and civilians were killed in the worst fighting on Sunday, after Armenia declared martial law and ordered the total mobilisation of its military. About 200 people have been wounded in the fighting, the Armenian Defense Ministry said Monday, while Azerbaijani authorities said 26 civilians have been wounded on their side.
It accused Azerbaijan of carrying out air and artillery attacks on Nagorno-Karabakh, though Baku said it had counterattacked in response to Armenian shelling. Armenia said about 30 of its soldiers had been killed and that it had retaken some of the positions it lost on Sunday.
The clashes prompted a flurry of diplomacy to prevent a flare-up of a decades-old conflict between majority Christian Armenia and mainly Muslim Azerbaijan, with Russia calling for an immediate ceasefire and another regional power, Turkey, saying it would support Azerbaijan. Analysts have said the conflict at the crossroads of Europe and Asia risks drawing in larger regional powers including Russia, Iran and Turkey. The latter has strongly siding with its Azerbaijani allies and called on Monday for Armenia’s “occupation” of the disputed region to be ended.
Pipelines shipping Caspian oil and natural gas from Azerbaijan to the world pass close to Nagorno-Karabakh. “Once Armenia immediately leaves the territory it is occupying, the region will return to peace and harmony,” Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Human right activists in Armenia said two civilians – a woman and a child – had been killed by Azerbaijani shelling. Armenian military officials have reported at least 10 casualties on their side. The two countries have strong historical and cultural links and cooperate on several energy projects.
Officials in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, said an unspecified number of their civilians had been killed and six wounded, and Nagorno-Karabakh said 16 of its military staff had been killed. The reports could not be independently confirmed. Regional powers including Iran and Russia have joined China, the US, Spain and others in an international chorus condemning the violence and calling for the immediate resumption of peace talks to resolve the century-old conflict over the area.
Azerbaijan’s army said it had taken control of several villages in Nagorno-Karabakh as of Sunday afternoon, a claim that Armenia rejected. “We hope and we urge everyone to everything they can in order to prevent an all-out war from breaking out, because this is the last thing the region needs,” European Commission spokesman Peter Stano told reporters in Brussels. “There is no military solution to this conflict.”
The long-running dispute in the South Caucasus attracts regional and western concern because the area is a corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to global markets. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh “is a cause for concern for Moscow and other countries.”
Turkey has strong cultural and economic ties with Azerbaijan and has threatened to stand with it in any conflict. Russia, another regional power, is traditionally close to Armenia but has been forging links with Azerbaijan’s elites in past years. “We believe that the hostilities should be immediately ended,” Peskov told reporters, adding that the process of resolving the conflict between the two countries should shift into “a politico-diplomatic” dimension.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said in a statement posted on Twitter that Armenia had “once again showed that it is the biggest threat to peace and tranquility in the region” and that Turkey stood by Azerbaijan “with all its means, as always”. Both sides have sought to cast each other as the aggressor in this week’s clashes, with Armenia’s parliament on Monday condemning what it called a “full-scale military attack” by Azerbaijan on the disputed area.
Armenia’s defence ministry on Sunday said its troops had destroyed three tanks and shot down two helicopters and three unmanned aerial vehicles in response to an attack on civilian targets including Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, Stepanakert. Armenian officials have accused Turkey of providing intelligence and military assistance to Azerbaijan and as funnelling around 4,000 Syrian militiamen into the region – a claim Azerbaijan described as “absolute nonsense”.
“Our response will be proportionate, and the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for the situation,” the ministry said in a statement echoed by the foreign ministry. “Turkish military experts are fighting side by side with Azerbaijan, who are using Turkish weapons, including UAVs and warplanes,” the Armenian foreign ministry said, casting its fight as one against “a Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance”.
The Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, wrote on Twitter: “We stay strong next to our army to protect our motherland from Azeri invasion.” Azerbaijan claims its operations since Sunday have been a response to Armenian shelling and intended to protect civilian communities.
Azerbaijan denied the Armenian defence ministry statement, saying it had “complete advantage over the enemy on the front”, and accused Armenian forces of launching “deliberate and targeted” attacks along the frontline. Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling party, denied reports that Turkey had sent arms or foreign fighters to Azerbaijan. “Armenia is disturbed by Turkey’s solidarity with Azerbaijan and is producing lies against Turkey,” Celik tweeted.
“We defend our territory, our cause is right,” Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, said in an address to the nation. Pipelines shipping Caspian oil and natural gas from Azerbaijan to the world pass close to Nagorno-Karabakh. Europe draws around 5% of its oil and gas from region.
The two former Soviet Republics have clashed for years over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian territory that is officially part of Azerbaijan but which broke away from the country as the Soviet Union was dissolving.The two former Soviet Republics have clashed for years over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian territory that is officially part of Azerbaijan but which broke away from the country as the Soviet Union was dissolving.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-year war over the region until a ceasefire in 1994, and since then Nagorno-Karabakh has governed itself as the de facto independent Republic of Artsakh. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-year war over the region until a ceasefire in 1994, and since then Nagorno-Karabakh has governed itself as the de facto independent Republic of Artsakh. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the war and about a million people were displaced.
Both countries have continued to accuse each other of violating the ceasefire in the enclave and elsewhere along their border in the years since, including throughout 2020. More than a dozen soldiers and civilians have been killed in fighting in recent months.Both countries have continued to accuse each other of violating the ceasefire in the enclave and elsewhere along their border in the years since, including throughout 2020. More than a dozen soldiers and civilians have been killed in fighting in recent months.
At least 200 people were killed in a revival of the conflict in April 2016.At least 200 people were killed in a revival of the conflict in April 2016.
Reuters contributed to this reportReuters contributed to this report