Azerbaijan and Armenia accuse each other of breaking the ceasefire for the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said today that its security forces have died four times since the ceasefire entered into force around a month ago. Armenia, however, spoke of a new offensive by Azerbaijan yesterday, in which six of its own soldiers were wounded.
The government of Azerbaijan said the fighting took place in a region awarded to Azerbaijan under the ceasefire. Armenia, in turn, spoke of provocations and that the advances had been repulsed. The situation should now be clarified with the mediation of Russia.
Armenia and Azerbaijan had fought heavy fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh for weeks. Mostly Christian Armenians live there. Under international law, the region in the South Caucasus belongs to the predominantly Islamic Azerbaijan, from which it renounced in 1991. The war had already broken out then, and Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas.
With the mediation of Russia, a ceasefire was negotiated after the armed conflict from the end of September in early November, which is supposed to end the fighting. The displeasure of many Armenians is primarily directed against the fact that the land captured by the Azerbaijani army should remain under Azerbaijan’s control.
