27 dead, UN emergency meeting: the most important thing about the attack on Nagorno-Karabakh ‘I don’t know if I could have shot myself’

Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh this morning. The conflict area is on Azerbaijani territory, but is predominantly inhabited by Armenians.

The army in Baku justified the military operation with alleged violations by Armenia of the current ceasefire. The Armenian side rejects these accusations as a fabricated pretext.

That evening, a report from Gegam Stepanyan, human rights commissioner for the internationally unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, said 27 people were killed, including two civilians. In addition, at least 200 people have been injured so far in the conflict zone in the South Caucasus, including 29 civilians – three women, two children and two men – Stepanyan said. In total, about 7,000 residents of 16 locations were brought to safety by Azerbaijani shelling.

This is what Azerbaijan says

In the South Caucasus, the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan has launched a new military operation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense justified the operation on Tuesday as an “anti-terrorist operation of a local character to restore constitutional order” in the region.

According to the statement from Baku, the military operation is aimed at forcing the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the area as stipulated in the ceasefire following the last war in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense claimed that only military targets had been fired. Videos circulating on social media allegedly show attacks on Armenian air defense systems:

According to information from Baku Armenian artillery initially attacked its own positions and wounded several soldiers.

In the evening, Azerbaijan also demanded the laying down of arms and resignation of the Armenian leadership in the Nagorno-Karabakh region as a condition for the end of its military operation. “The illegal Armenian military formations must raise the white flag and surrender all weapons, and the illegal regime must resign,” said a statement from the presidential government in Baku distributed by local media on Tuesday. Otherwise, the fighting would continue to the end, the leadership of the authoritarian ex-Soviet republic emphasized.

This is what Armenia says

Armenia sees things a little differently. A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yerevan, distributed by Armenian media on Tuesday, said that “clear and unequivocal steps to end Azerbaijani aggression” were necessary.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has now convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council due to the escalation.

Isn’t there still a Republic of Artsakh?

Artsakh is a de facto state that was called Nagorno-Karabakh until 2017. The UN and the Council of Europe consider the area – and therefore the conflict zone – to be part of Azerbaijan. However, because the area is mainly inhabited by Armenians, Nagorno-Karabakh sympathizes more with Armenia than with Azerbaijan.

The former head of government of the Republic of Artsakh, Ruben Vardanyan, posted on his Telegram channel massive artillery fire to the area. As a result, he demanded:

According to an AFP reporter, explosions were heard in Stepanakert, the capital of Artsakh. Sirens and gunshots could also be heard on video.

Artsakh’s current leadership rejected accusations from Azerbaijan that its own positions were initially attacked by Armenian artillery and that several soldiers were injured.

How do other countries react?

In view of the Azerbaijani attack on the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the South Caucasus, a An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council has been convened, as reported from diplomatic circles. Armenia had previously asked the committee for help. There was also a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio separately with his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia and offered Italian mediation, according to a statement. Iran also offered itself as a mediator.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for a cessation of recent hostilities. “Due to the rapid escalation of the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, we call on the parties to the conflict to immediately end the bloodshed, stop hostilities and prevent casualties among the civilian population,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said Matters in a statement published earlier. State news agency Tass reported this on Wednesday morning.

France on Tuesday called on Azerbaijan to immediately end its offensive. No pretext could justify such a unilateral action, which threatened thousands of citizens.

French President Emmanuel Macron also reiterated his support for Armenia’s territorial integrity in a phone call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. As the Elysée subsequently announced, Macron called for a resumption of talks to achieve a fair and lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and to guarantee security and rights for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Iran has now offered mediation from Tehran. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Tuesday called for compliance with the 2020 ceasefire agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, both of which share a border with Iran. Just a few days ago, Iranian Defense Minister Mohammed-Reza Ashtiani warned of a war in the region.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have traditionally been difficult. The leadership in Tehran repeatedly accused the neighboring country of collaborating with the West and its arch-enemy Israel. Iran, in turn, like Russia, maintains good relations with Armenia. Nevertheless, senior military representatives from Baku and Tehran recently met for talks and signed an agreement to deepen defense and military cooperation.

Azerbaijan cited the laying down of arms and the resignation of the Armenian leadership in the Nagorno-Karabakh region as a condition for the end of the current military operation. Azerbaijan is internationally criticized for its violent actions. Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock demanded, for example: “Azerbaijan must immediately stop the shelling and return to the negotiating table.”

Similar comments were made US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In a telephone conversation with Azerbaijan’s leader Ilham Aliyev, he emphasized that there was no military solution and that the sides should resume dialogue, as State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. Blinken noted that Aliyev was ready to halt military actions and hold a meeting of representatives of Azerbaijan and the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Blinken emphasized that this must be implemented immediately. However, support for Baku came from Turkey.

That one as well Islamic Turkiye is considered Azerbaijan’s protective power, while Christian Orthodox Armenia has traditionally relied on support from Russia, which has also stationed its own soldiers in the region.

What is the conflict actually about?

Christian Orthodox Armenia and Muslim Azerbaijan have long been enemies. This is the biggest bone of contention between Yerevan and Baku Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, which belongs to Azerbaijan but is inhabited by Armenians. After a war in the early 1990s, Armenia initially had the upper hand. In a second war in 2020, Azerbaijan, heavily armed with money from the oil and gas industry, won and reconquered its own territory.

During shorter military actions afterwards, Baku also occupied approximately 150 square kilometers of Armenian territory. The Armenian Foreign Ministry last week demanded that Azerbaijan leave these areas. Baku responded that Armenia still occupied eight Azerbaijani villages.

Baku has been blocking the Lachin corridor – the connection between around 120,000 Karabakh Armenians and Armenia – for months. There is a lack of food and medicine in the area.

Who supports whom?

Azerbaijan is involved in the conflict Turkiye while supported Russia while Armenia’s traditional protective power is losing its influence. “As a result of the events in Ukraine, Russia’s options have changed,” Prime Minister Pashinyan recently said in an interview with the American media “Politico”. His country wants to avoid being dependent on external protectors in the future. (yam/jaw/sda/dpa)

Update to follow…