Armenia and Azerbaijan on Tuesday (September 29) accused each other of firing on their side of the border. This is the latest sign of the conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict is in danger of turning into a war.
Both countries have allegedly opened fire on the western part of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Heavy fighting erupted there on Sunday between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, killing dozens of people and wounding hundreds more.
While both Russia and the United States have called for an end to the violence, both Azerbaijani President Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Pashinian rejected the possibility of talks on Russian state television.
The UN Security Council is expected to meet later Tuesday to discuss the escalating fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Fighting intensified Monday between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the Naqqa enclave. The closed-door meeting was requested by five European countries – Britain, Belgium, Estonia, France and Germany.
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Guterres spoke to both Aliyev and Pashinian and called for “an immediate end to the fighting, a reduction in tensions, and the immediate and unconditional resumption of meaningful negotiations,” according to the Associated Press.
The United States on Sunday called for an end to hostilities. State Department spokesman Ortegaz issued a statement saying that the United States “condemns this escalation of violence in the strongest possible terms. The statement urged both sides to work with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries to “return to substantive negotiations as soon as possible.
The Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is tasked with finding a peaceful solution to the conflict.
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries – the United States, France and Russia – issued a joint statement Sunday on “large-scale military operations along the Line of Contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
We strongly condemn the use of force and deplore the unjustified loss of life, including that of civilians,” the co-chair countries said. They called on “all parties to immediately cease hostilities and to resume negotiations to find a sustainable solution to the conflict.
The three countries called on all parties to the conflict to “take the necessary measures to stabilize the situation on the ground” and stated that there was no alternative to peaceful negotiations to resolve the conflict.
As a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, both Armenia and Azerbaijan announced military regulations and military mobilization on Sunday.
Nagorno-Karabakh is located within Azerbaijan, but is governed by ethnic Armenians and supported by the Armenian government. The enclave declared its secession from Azerbaijan during the Nagorno-Karabakh war that ended in 1994, but no country has yet recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent republic.
Should war break out between the two former Soviet republics, regional powers Turkey and Russia could become involved. Russia has a defense agreement with Armenia, and the Turkish government supports Azerbaijanis, who are also of Turkic ethnicity.
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