Azerbaijan Calls Ceasefire After Heavy Fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan said it reached a unilateral ceasefire decision “to stop counter-attacks and retaliatory action against the enemy in the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan” after global calls and the country’s efforts to pursue a “peaceful policy”, the Azerbaijan state news agency Azertac reported. It did not elaborate.

Azerbaijan has announced a unilateral cease-fire in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where a recent flare-up of violence between Azerbaijani and separatist Armenian forces has left dozens of people dead. “But the reality and the situation right now is that no steps have actually been taken by them in this direction”, said presidential spokesman David Babayan.

Armenian armed forces have broken the ceasefire with Azerbaijan on the frontline in Fuzuli, Terter and Aghdam districts, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan told Trend.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council’s four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s defence ministry also claims to have restored control over a strategic area near the front line. At least 30 fighters were killed between the two sides, though some reports claimed 100 Armenian troops were killed.

Independent as of 1991, Armenia and Azerbaijan immediately started fighting over the region, with three years of conflict ending in a ceasefire.

He said the Armenians “killed and injured several civilians”, in addition to firing on Azerbaijani troops.

The United Nations has also called on the parties involved to put an immediate end to the fighting and to respect the ceasefire agreement.

It said Nagorno-Karabakh forces went on a counter-offensive around the village of Talish after Azerbaijani forces shelled their positions just before dawn on Sunday using rockets, artillery and armour.

“They were shooting from mortars, grenade launchers, and large-calibre machine guns”, Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said in a statement.

12-year-old Gevorg Grigoryan’s mother pulls a blanket up for her son who was wounded in a missile barrage by Azerbaijani forces, in a hospital in Stepanakert, in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region, Armenia, Saturday, April 2, 2016.

“We pray our Azerbaijani brothers will prevail in these clashes with the least casualties”, Erdogan said.

Moscow has supplied weaponry to both sides in the conflict, but has much closer military and economic ties to Armenia and Yerevan is reliant on Russia’s backing.