Azerbaijan

Fierce fighting around Nagorno-Karabakh erupted

The smoldering conflict over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has again flared up. Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other, to be there for new fights to be responsible. Russia’s President Putin calls for moderation.

Soldiers of the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh in a guard post in Agdam (archive photo)

The Armenian defense Ministry said that Azerbaijan had attacked in the night to Saturday, “with tanks, artillery and helicopters to massively”. The Azerbaijani units had been defeated, where they had a “suffered heavy losses”. Rebels, supported by Armenia, had destroyed two Azerbaijani military helicopter and a drone shot down and three tanks. The government in Baku denied in the meantime, the shooting down of a helicopter.

The Azerbaijani defense Ministry, in turn, said his troops had been attacked by “large calibre artillery and rocket launchers”. In twelve of his own soldiers had been killed. Some of the more than 120 fired shells had hit residential areas. The Azerbaijani troops have immediately initiated “retaliation” and two strategically important hills and a village in Nagorno-Karabakh occupied.

The Ministry of defence of Armenia in Yerevan

The Ministry of defence of Nagorno-Karabakh, supported by Armenia, stated that during the shelling of the Armenian villages in the disputed Region, a twelve-year-old Boy had been killed. The foreign Ministry in Baku reported a killed Azerbaijani civilians.

Putin urges cease-fire

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on both sides, the fire immediately. The parties to the conflict would need to enter into an “immediate ceasefire” and exercise restraint to avoid further casualties, he ordered his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov explain. The Russian defense Minister Sergei Shoigu led with his colleagues in the capitals of Yerevan and Baku crisis phone calls. Shoigu called on both to stabilize the situation quickly, as the news Agency reported to Interfax. Russia sees itself as a protecting power in Armenia. The Armenian head of the government Hovik Abrahamjan convened in the capital, Yerevan, an emergency meeting of his Cabinet.

The two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, arguing for many years, the Region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The territory belonged to the Soviet Union to the Muslim Republic of Azerbaijan, although it is inhabited by a majority of Christian Armenians. Proarmenische rebels have brought the end of the 80s with Yerevan’s support under its control.

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Until today, not a peace Treaty

In the course of a year-long war killed an estimated 30,000 people. Hundreds of thousands of people fled the Fighting. In 1994, a weapons arrest in force, shall be considered as brittle. A peace Treaty, today there are not. International mountain is not considered Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan, Armenia to recognize it.

The little mountain area on the border between the two countries is largely of payments from Yerevan, depending on the and virtually just over the road from Armenia to reach. The oil-rich Azerbaijan, whose defense budget was a higher than Armenia’s entire state budget, has threatened repeatedly to Nagorno-Karabakh reclaim should remain in international efforts to resolve the conflict unsuccessful. The government in Yerevan assured that you can keep any Offensive.

As a mediator, the so-called Minsk group of the organization for security and cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is used in the conflict. It includes Russia, the USA, Germany, France, and Turkey, among others.

kle/uh (afp, dpa, rtre, ape)