Caucasus

The battles in Nagorno-Karabakh?

After the Flare up of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with at least 30 of the dead Azerbaijan wants to stop the fighting. The government in Baku has announced a unilateral ceasefire.

As a sign of good faith the cease-fire had been decided, said the Azerbaijani defense Ministry. However, all of the Armenian troops of the occupied territories would be liberated, should not stop the Armenian military provocations, it was restrictive. From the Armenian side there was, as yet, no opinion.

The international community continues to be of concern in the Region. Since the cease-fire inflamed the dispute between the two countries for border region mountain state in the years 1994-Karabakh. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called on the Parties in New York, to respect the ceasefire agreement completely. In addition, he was particularly concerned about the use of heavy weapons and the high number of victims. Also, the United States, Russia, the EU and the German Federal foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) is insisting on an end to the violence. The battles were with at least 30 soldiers killed, the most violent since the signing of the ceasefire agreement between the two countries 22 years ago.

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After the Fight, both countries began to blame each other, and allocate the current losses to offset. So to killed, according to the Armenian President, Serge Sargsyan, 18 Armenian soldiers, and a further 35 were injured. Sargsyan said in a televised speech, whether it was the Victims were members of the regular armed forces or members of forces from Nagorno-Karabakh, supported by Armenia.

Heavy fighting with tanks and artillery

According to the Ministry of defense in Azerbaijan Baku, Armenian forces had killed twelve Azerbaijani soldiers and a helicopter shot down. Azerbaijan had also stated that its armed forces had killed more than a hundred Armenian soldiers, as well as six tanks and 15 artillery units destroyed. The Armenian defense Ministry dismissed this as “obvious disinformation”.

According to the information of Armenia supported the defence Ministry in Karabakh during the shelling of the Armenian villages in the disputed Region, was killed by Azerbaijani artillery, a twelve-year-old Boy. Baku reported a number of civilians killed on the Azerbaijan side.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed to the two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan to exercise restraint to avoid further casualties. The Russian defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov talked on the phone with their Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts.

OSCE is meant to convey

U.S. Secretary of state John Kerry called for in a Declaration of Armenia and Azerbaijan, “to adhere strictly to the ceasefire”. The “unstable situation” show, why the Parties should immediately engage in a comprehensive negotiation process for a settlement of the conflict, should be under the auspices of the so-called Minsk group of the organization for security and cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Steinmeier called on behalf of the German presidency of the OSCE, to “end hostilities immediately and the ceasefire fully respected”. According to the foreign office, Steinmeier was on the phone with his colleagues in both countries. Also, the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, and the French head of state François Hollande called for de-escalation.

Erdogan fueled the conflict

Only the Turkish President, Recep Tyyip Erdogan took a stand and stood on the side of Azerbaijan: “We will support Azerbaijan till the end. We pray that our Azerbaijan to win brothers with the smallest possible losses, the upper hand in this Fight,” said Erdogan on the sidelines of his US visit.

Heavy tanks were used in battles in the mountain region

Long-Standing Disputes

The dispute over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh makes the South Caucasus a powder keg. The conflict dates back to the time of the Soviet Union. The two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, arguing for many years, the Region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Proarmenische rebels had been hit, the majority of Christian Armenians inhabited the territory of, the in Soviet times, the Muslim Azerbaijan, at the end of the 80 years of Yerevan to support their control. In the course of a year-long war, hundreds of thousands of people were expelled from both countries, and an estimated 30,000 people were killed. International mountain is not considered Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan, Armenia to recognize it.

The oil-rich Azerbaijan, whose defense budget was a higher than Armenia’s entire state budget, has threatened repeatedly to Nagorno-Karabakh retake, should lead international efforts to resolve the conflict to no result. The Moscow supported Armenia assured that it could keep any Offensive. The so-called Minsk group of OSCE – the USA, Russia and France in the lead – mediated in the conflict. The negotiations are Stalled.

cgn/qu (afp, afpe, ap, dpa)