UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “an immediate end to the fighting” in Nagorno Karabakh, against which Azerbaijan launched a new attack yesterday, Tuesday, killing at least 29 people so far.
Three years after a war that ended in Armenia’s defeat, yesterday’s flare-up of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with France calling for an emergency meeting of the Security Council.
Azerbaijan launched ‘anti-terrorist activities’ in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, saying it wanted to restore constitutional order and drive out what it said were Armenian troops, a move that could foreshadow a new war https://t.co/xTfXJp8GL2 pic.twitter.com/dIw1hbBUJR
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 20, 2023
The meeting could take place “in the coming days”, two diplomatic sources told AFP, citing Thursday as a possible date.
For his part, Guterres called “in the strongest possible terms for an end to the fighting, a de-escalation and strict respect for the 2020 ceasefire and the principles of international humanitarian law,” according to a statement issued yesterday, Tuesday, evening, by his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.
Azerbaijan has said it has launched an “anti-terrorist operation” in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Footage circulating on social media shows bombing in Karabakh’s main city.
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 20, 2023
Russia also called this morning for “an immediate end to the bloodshed, an end to hostilities and civilian casualties,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The Azerbaijani presidency last night called on Nagorno Karabakh troops — a region internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijani territory, but the majority of its inhabitants are Armenian — to surrender their weapons, a necessary condition for the start of negotiations.
“Armenia’s illegal armed forces must raise the white flag, surrender all their weapons and the illegal regime must be dismantled. Otherwise, anti-terrorist operations will continue to the end,” he stressed.
In case of a surrender of the separatists in the enclave, the Azerbaijani presidency proposed talks “with representatives of the Armenian population of Karabakh in Yevlakh,” an Azerbaijani city 295 kilometres west of Baku.
Earlier, the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities had called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations.
At least 29 dead
At least 29 people have been killed in the clashes. Separatists in the enclave said 27 people were killed, including two civilians, and more than 200 wounded, while some 7,000 people in 16 districts were displaced from their homes.
Azerbaijan noted that two civilians were killed in areas under its control. In the town of Shusha, a construction worker was killed by a mortar shell and another civilian died in the Aghdam district.
The separatists said that in several towns in Nagorno-Karabakh, including in the capital Stepanakert, there was “heavy fire” targeting civilian infrastructure.
The Azerbaijani armed forces noted that they used “artillery”, rockets, attack drones, and aircraft, and said they captured 60 Armenian positions.
Yerevan denounced “a widespread offensive” aimed at “ethnic cleansing” and assured that it has no troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, suggesting that the separatists are alone against the Azerbaijani troops.
Armenia expects Russia, a guarantor of the 2020 ceasefire that has peacekeeping forces in the region, to act to “stop the Azerbaijani offensive”.
