Friday,
Fighting Eases On Armenia-Azerbaijan Border
• Sargis Harutyunyan
ARMENIA -- A view shows a house, which locals said was damaged during a recent
shelling by Azerbaijani forces, in armed clashes on the border between
Azerbaijan and Armenia, in the village of Aygepar, Tavush Province, July 15, 2020
Armenia and Azerbaijan reported no serious ceasefire violations along their
border on Friday after several days of heavy fighting that left at least 16
soldiers dead and dozens of others wounded.
The Armenian military said late in the afternoon Azerbaijani forces only fired
small arms at its positions in Tavush province, the scene of the fighting, and
did not targeted local border villages in the past day.
“No artillery or other heavy weapons were used,” a military spokesman, Artsrun
Hovannisian, told a news briefing in Ijevan, Tavush’s administrative center.
Hovannisian said that “tension has eased considerably.” “In essence, things are
calm and there is no gunfire right now,” he said.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman, Vagif Dargahli, also described the
situation in Azerbaijan’s Tovuz district bordering Tavush as “calm.” The
Armenian army has stopped shelling Azerbaijani villages but is “continuing to
shoot at our frontline positions,” he said, according to Azerbaijani news
agencies.
Azerbaijan -- A local woman shows damage in her house after shelling by Armenian
forces in the Tovuz region, July 14, 2020
The hostilities broke out at a Tavush-Tovuz border section on Sunday in still
unclear circumstances. Each side accused the other of attacking its army posts
in the mountainous area.
At least 12 Azerbaijani servicemen, including a general and a colonel, were
killed in the clashes. The Armenian army reported four combat deaths within its
ranks.
Hovannisian said 36 other Armenian soldiers were wounded in the clashes. Only
ten of them are currently in hospital, he said, adding that one soldier remains
in a critical condition.
ARMENIA -- A woman stays inside a house, which locals said was damaged during a
recent shelling by Azerbaijani forces, in armed clashes on the border between
Azerbaijan and Armenia, in the village of Aygepar, Tavush Province, July 15, 2020
The provincial town of Berd and several Tavush villages were shelled by the
Azerbaijani side during what was the worst flare-up in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict zone in years. Many local residents spent nights in basements and bomb
shelters. A resident of the village of Chinari was seriously wounded in Thursday
in what Armenian officials described as an Azerbaijani drone attack on his car.
The mayor of another Tavush village, Nerkin Karmiraghbyur, told reporters on
Friday that about a dozen local houses were seriously damaged by Azerbaijani
artillery fire. Other locals said some of the women and children living in the
community were evacuated for security reasons earlier this week.
Azerbaijani authorities have reported, for their part, Armenian mortar and
howitzer fire on Azerbaijani villages located across the heavily militarized
border.
Putin ‘Very Concerned’ By Armenian-Azeri Clashes
• Emil Danielyan
Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via
teleconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, .
President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials on Friday voiced
serious concerns over deadly hostilities on Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan and
offered to help ease tensions between the two South Caucasus states.
They discussed the latest flare-up in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone during
a session of Russia’s Security Council headed by Putin.
A statement by the Kremlin said participants of the meeting engaged in a
“detailed exchange of views regarding the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border” and expressed “deep concern” over heavy fighting that broke out there on
July 12.
They stressed the “urgent need” for Armenia and Azerbaijan to respect the
ceasefire and expressed Moscow’s “readiness for mediation activities,” added the
statement. It did not give further details.
Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, made identical comments to the Russian
press after the meeting attended by the speakers of both houses of Russia’s
parliament, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Federal Security Service Director
Aleksandr Bortnikov, Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin and
other officials.
Lavrov already telephoned his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts on Monday to
call for an immediate end to the skirmishes involving artillery fire and drone
attacks. The fighting continued in the following days, however, with the
conflicting parties putting the blame on each other.
A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday that Moscow is “working
with” the parties to prevent a further escalation. Neither side has reported
serious ceasefire violations since then. According to the Armenian Defense
Ministry, the situation at a border section where at least 16 soldiers from both
sides have been killed since July 12 was “relatively calm” on Friday.
Armenia -- Priest Ter Abel prays for peace outside the village of Movses on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border, July 15, 2020
The United States, the European Union as well as Iran have also urged Baku and
Yerevan to show restraint without holding either side responsible for the
escalation.
By contrast, Turkey, Azerbaijan’s closest ally, has blamed the Armenian side and
promised military aid to Baku, raising the prospect of a more direct Turkish
involvement in the Karabakh conflict.
“Our armed unmanned aerial vehicles, ammunition and missiles are at Azerbaijan’s
service along with our experience, technology and capabilities,” Ismail Demir,
the head of a state body overseeing the Turkish defense industry, tweeted after
meeting with a high-ranking military delegation from Azerbaijan in Ankara on
Friday.
For his part, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday that Armenia
will be “brought to account” for its “attack” on Azerbaijan.
Armenia has close military ties with Russia and hosts Russian troops on its soil
mainly because of a perceived security threat from Turkey. The latter refuses to
establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and keeps the Turkish-Armenian
border closed out of solidarity with Azerbaijan.
In a possible reference to Ankara, Lavrov said on Monday that all countries
making up the OSCE Minsk Group should “avoid statements and actions that could
provoke a further rise in tensions” in the Karabakh conflict zone.
Russian, U.S. and French diplomats co-heading the group have long been
spearheading international efforts to broker a solution to the
Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute.
Aliyev Again Threatens To End ‘Meaningless’ Talks With Armenia
Azerbaijan -- President Ilham Aliyev speaks with newly appointed Foreign
Minister Jeyhun Bayramov via video link, Baku, .
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has again threatened to withdraw from further
negotiations with Armenia, accusing it of obstructing a resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict sought by Azerbaijan.
Aliyev also renewed his criticism of the U.S., Russian and French mediators
co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group, saying that they should strive to not only
maintain the ceasefire in the conflict zone but also make Armenian-Azerbaijani
talks “substantive.”
“We are not going to hold negotiations and meaningless video conferences for the
sake of imitation,” he told his newly appointed Foreign Minister Jeyhun
Bayramov, on Thursday. “There has to be a meaning.”
Aliyev went on to accuse Yerevan of “undermining the negotiating process.” “If
we see that negotiations are meaningless we will act and come up with statements
accordingly,” he warned.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry scoffed at the comments on Friday. “If Azerbaijan
is now refusing to negotiate with Armenia it is not clear with whom it is going
to negotiate on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” said the ministry spokeswoman,
Anna Naghdalian.
Naghdalian denounced “war threats” which she said have emanated from Baku
lately. “If the threat to pull out of negotiations is part of the same effort
then we are neither surprised nor impressed with that,” she said in written
comments.
Aliyev already threatened to withdraw from the talks and lambasted the mediators
on July 7. “[The mediators’] main point is that the problem cannot be solved
militarily. Who said that?” he told Azerbaijani television.
Five days later, heavy fighting involving artillery fire and drone attacks broke
out on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in disputed circumstances. At least
twelve Azerbaijani servicemen and four Armenian soldiers were killed in the
clashes that prompted serious concern from the international community.
The fighting appeared to have largely ground to a halt by Thursday evening. The
conflicting parties reported no major truce violations overnight and the
following morning.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the mediators said the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers have pledged to “hold substantive negotiations on
crucial aspects of a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement as soon as possible.” The
Azerbaijani minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, was sacked and replaced by Bayramov on
Thursday.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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