More than 100 soldiers dead in border clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia
Europe, News September 14, 2022 1 Comment on More than 100 soldiers dead in border clashes between Azerbaijan and ArmeniaFighting between the border forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia has resulted in the death of more than 100 soldiers from sides. Despite the claims of the ceasefire, the scuffles continue.
The Armenian defense ministry has claimed that several of its towns and villages near the Azerbaijan border were attacked on September 13, 2022. Armenian border forces attacked Azerbaijani forces in retaliation. “Azerbaijan used artillery, mortar and small arms in its attack on Wednesday morning,” the ministry said in a statement.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a statement that at least 105 Armenian soldiers have been killed during the clashes while Azerbaijan said it lost around 50 military personnel.
Azerbaijan has accused Armenian of using the Russian military base to fire mortars and artillery against its military units. Azerbaijani defense ministry released a statement in the early hours of September 13, stating that its military units were being “periodically fired against.”
A threat of a full-scale conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia has become more imminent after the two sides exchanged border scuffles recently. Last time it was in 2020, the two sides fought in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in Azerbaijan with a significant ethnic Armenian population. The six-week-long conflict resulted in the death of more than 6,500 people on both sides.
Russia, which operates a military base in Armenia, sent thousands of peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. Moscow is a key power broker in the region and a close ally of Yerevan as Armenia is a part of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). CSTO convened soon after the border clashes in order to discuss the situation.
Russia was the first country to respond to the recent conflict and came forward to mediate between the two ex-Soviet republics. Kremlin claimed that Russian intervention and a call between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin brokered a ceasefire between the two sides.
A few hours after Moscow claimed to have facilitated a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced his concerns about Russia’s intervention in the matter. He stated that Russia could “stir the pot” between Armenia and Azerbaijan “to create a distraction from Ukraine.”
The National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said that the U.S. was “actively engaged” in trying to end the violence and mediate between Azerbaijan and Armenia. “We’re actively engaged with both the Armenian and Azerbaijani Governments to see what we can do to end this violence,” Kirby told the reporters.
President of the European Council Charles Michel also commented on the matter. he stated that he was in contact with Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership. He stated that both sides “need a complete and sustainable ceasefire.” He wrote on Twitter that “there is no alternative to peace and stability, and there is no alternative to diplomacy to ensure that.”
Michel met Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol last month in Brussels for talks on the normalizing of ties between the countries and to discuss humanitarian issues and the prospect of a peace treaty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia Azerbaijan Border clash Caucasus Clashes Conflict CSTO Military Nagorno Karabakh Russia Ukraine
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