Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday, April 5, announced a ceasefire after 4 days of bloodshed, as global powers scrambled to end the worst violence in decades over the disputed region.
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Azerbaijan and separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakhk agreed yesterday on a cease-fire following three days of the heaviest fighting in the disputed region since 1994.
Azeri and Nagorno-Karabakh defence officials declared a halt to fighting from noon, after the fiercest clashes since the end of a 1988-94 conflict that saw the region’s ethnic-Armenian majority fight for independence from Azerbaijan.
Military operations along the line of contact between Azerbaijan and Armenia have stopped, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had separate phone calls Tuesday with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, urging them to honor the cease-fire.
However, an Armenian defence ministry spokesman dismissed the claim as a product of the Azeri military’s “wild imagination”, according to the Associated Press.
Fears for a wider conflict were particularly acute at a time when the Syrian conflict had severely strained relations between Russian Federation and Turkey, the main backers of Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively. The Forum also highly appreciates the efforts towards releasing strategic points occupied by Armenian forces and used as a springboard to the Azerbaijani positions, as well as supports the position and action of the Azerbaijani President in direction of protecting the territorial integrity and considers the natural right of Azerbaijan to liberate the occupied territories.
Officials from Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh territory said that Azerbaijan launched a broad offensive on Saturday, prompting a counter-attack.
The conflict is between Christian Armenians and mainly Muslim Azeris and, despite the long-simmering tensions, global attempts to settle the dispute have not succeeded. Thomas de Waal, senior associate at Carnegie Europe and author of a book on Karabakh, said: “The problem with the geography of this conflict is that if the ceasefire breaks down there are no peacekeepers and even if you don’t have a full-scale war there could be low-intensity fighting which completely destroys the peace process”.
Mr Hasanov warned that Azeri forces would begin an artillery barrage on Stepanakert, which is home to about 50,000 people, if Armenian forces did not shelling populated areas.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, in its turn, blamed Armenian forces for shelling residential areas despite a unilateral cease-fire announced by Baku, warning that “Armenia will bear the blame for possible counterattacks and retaliatory measures by Azerbaijan’s armed forces”.
Both countries blamed each other for the latest hostilities, though at least one observer believes that Azerbaijan’s military unleashed an offensive aiming to seize some ground to make Armenia more likely to discuss a compromise in peace talks.
“We are today standing side-by-side with our brothers in Azerbaijan”. He said Armenian forces fired automatic weapons overnight at front-line villages but there was no fighting during the day Wednesday.
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Biden spoke to the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan and wrote on his Twitter account that a comprehensive settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh is critical for the stability, security and prosperity of both sides.
