Allegations of breach of the agreements came even before the declaration of a ceasefire, but also after the armistice officially came into force. France, co-chairing a group of peace mediators, called on the ceasefire to be strictly enforced, according to AFP, in order to create the conditions for a permanent end to hostilities. An armistice was agreed on Saturday night in Moscow.
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In the morning, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense reported that Armenia was intensively shelling populated areas on the border, to which Azerbaijan responds in the same way. “A few minutes ago, Azerbaijan fired rockets again in a residential area in Stepanakert,” said Armenian separatists, who control the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Stěpanakert is the administrative center of the enclave.
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According to a Russian newspaper, Kommersant, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Ministry of Defense said that Armenian separatist units in Nagorno-Karabakh had been ordered to stop firing at noon. Soon, however, according to her, the enemy tried to conquer one of the settlements, so they had to repel it. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense, on the other hand, reported that the cities of Terter and Agdam were being shelled again by the enemy on the border with Karabakh. According to Baku, Armenia is clearly violating the terms of the ceasefire, and Yerevan denies the allegations as false.
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“A truce is in force in Nagorno-Karabakh, negotiated for more than ten hours in Moscow by the heads of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani diplomacy. The main goal is to exchange prisoners and bodies killed. There is still no talk of any convergence of opinions, “Kommersant wrote on his website.
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Reuters reports that both parties have been accused of violating the terms of the agreement minutes after the ceasefire was announced.
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However, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan said that the military phase of the current crisis was over and that the countries had reached a political settlement. “We persevere to the end and get what we rightfully deserve,” Aliyev told Russia’s RBK. According to him, whether the ceasefire lasts depends on Armenia accepting that the disputed territory belongs to Azerbaijan and that it will never try to conquer it militarily.
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The AFP agency reported on Saturday evening about bomb attacks in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute – an enclave in southwestern Azerbaijan with a predominantly Armenian population – has been going on between Armenia and Azerbaijan for decades. Armed conflict broke out in 1988 during the Soviet era. Nagorno-Karabakh, with the support of Armenia, broke away from Azerbaijan in a bloody war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives and resulted in hundreds of thousands of refugees.
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Currently, Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent Lachin Corridor are under military control of Armenia. Azerbaijan considers this territory to be occupied. The current clash ignited on September 27 and is described as the most serious in more than 25 years.
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