Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday accused each other of violating a new US-backed ceasefire in the wake of fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh mountain siege, which ended a month-long conflict. Doubts over the possibility of the latest international pressure.
In just two weeks, the third ceasefire took
effect at 8:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT). Within minutes, the Azerbaijani
Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Armenian army had shelled
villages in the Tartar and Lachin areas.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Ministry of Defense has
denied this, saying that Azeri forces fired missiles at Armenian military bases
northeast of the line of contact. The Armenian Defense Ministry said in a
statement that the Azeri side violated the ceasefire at 9.10am local time.
The latest fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, a
mountainous part of Azerbaijan inhabited by ethnic Armenians and under their
control, began on September 27 and is the worst in the South Caucasus since the
1990s. Two Russian brokers have failed to stop the ceasefire.
The world powers want to stop the wider war in
Turkey, which has the support of Azerbaijan and Russia, which has signed a
defense agreement with Armenia. The conflict has also strained relations
between Ankara and its NATO allies.
The latest ceasefire was agreed’ on Sunday after
separate talks between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the foreign
ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington.
Representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group, which
was formed to mediate the dispute and led by France, Russia’ and the United States
took part in the talks. The group said its co-president and foreign ministers
had agreed to meet again in Geneva on October 29.
Commenting on the talks, US President Donald
Trump wrote on Twitter: "Congratulations to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan
and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for agreeing to an effective ceasefire
at midnight. Lives will be’ saved.
Nagorno-Karabakh says 974 of its troops have been
killed’ since September 27. Azerbaijan says 65 Azeri civilians have been killed’
but has not disclosed its military casualties.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week
that 5,000 people could be killed’ in the fighting.
Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan wrote on his
Facebook page that the Armenian side was "following the ceasefire."
In the war against Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991-94, 30,000 people were’ killed. Armenians consider the siege part of their historic homeland. The Azeri consider it illegally occupied land, which must be returned’ to their possession
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