The Azerbaijani army claimed on Tuesday to have captured more than 60 Armenian positions during the offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region disputed with Armenia for decades, as international calls for an end to armed clashes grow.
“More than 60 fighting positions of Armenian armed forces [separatistas] are now under the control of our armed forces,” said Anar Eyvazov, spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense. at a press conference.
On this issue, the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, today called on Baku to “immediately cease” the offensive in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“These actions are exacerbating the already difficult humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and undermining the prospects for peace,” the US Secretary of State said. in a statement stressing that the use of force is “unacceptable” and therefore calling for a “cessation of hostilities.”
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron, in a statement from the Élysée Palace, condemned the Azerbaijani military operation and called for an “immediate halt to the offensive” and the rapid resumption of talks to find a solution to the humanitarian situation in the area and an agreement. on peace.
In a conversation with the Armenian Prime Minister, the statement said, Macron reiterated France’s support to Nikol Pachinian for the territorial integrity of Armenia and said that Paris has already requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council due to the risk that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict represents regional stability.
Baku today announced a military operation in the enclave over the deaths of four police officers and two Azerbaijani civilians in a mine explosion blamed on Armenian separatists.
Russia maintains a peacekeeping force in Nagorno-Karabakh as part of a ceasefire negotiated by Moscow, a traditional ally of Armenia, to end the region’s previous conflict in 2020.
In this respect, Moscow has already called for restraint, saying it was informed of the start of the operation “a few minutes” earlier, after Baku announced it had alerted Russian forces.
After launching the military operation, Azerbaijan demanded Armenia’s “unconditional and total” withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh and the dissolution of the “so-called separatist regime” to achieve peace in the Azerbaijani region.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region in Azerbaijan with an Armenian majority, declared independence from Baku after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The declaration of independence sparked an armed conflict in which separatists, supported by Armenia, emerged victorious.
Thirty years later, in the fall of 2020, Azerbaijani forces recaptured two-thirds of the territory, located in the South Caucasus.
Source: DN
