Russia says Turkish foreign minister ‘agrees need for immediate cessation of Nagorno-Karabakh hostilities’

Russia says Turkish foreign minister ‘agrees need for immediate cessation of Nagorno-Karabakh hostilities’
This screengrab taken from an Armenian Defense Ministry video release allegedly shows the shooting down of an Azerbaijani drone with a missile on October 1. Several such drones approached Yerevan, the ministry said. / Armenian defence ministry.
By bne IntelIiNews October 2, 2020

Russia and Turkey’s foreign ministers have agreed to the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a Russian statement released late on October 1.

If the agreement proves to be a breakthrough, it could lead to the end of the intense and bloody fighting in the breakaway enclave—controlled as a self-proclaimed republic by ethnic Armenians but internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan—but the announcement was not in tune with a statement made by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, just hours earlier. In that statement, Erdogan essentially rubbished a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump for an "immediate cessation of hostilities", and demanded a full Armenian withdrawal from the South Caucasus territory, while condemning what he said were nearly three decades of failure by major powers to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. He said: “Given that the US, Russia and France have neglected this problem for nearly 30 years, it is unacceptable that they are involved in a search for a ceasefire.”

As the conflict raged for a fifth day—though some reports said the clashes were less intense than those of the previous days—details were published by Russia of a phone call between the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in which the two spoke of the need for an immediate end to the fighting.

“They reaffirmed their readiness to closely coordinate the actions of Russia and Turkey to stabilise the situation in order to return the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to a peaceful negotiation channel as soon as possible,” the statement said.

Turkey’s reaction awaited

Turkey—which denies that it is backing Azerbaijan in the conflict with military advisers, F-16 fighter planes, drones and contingents of Syrian rebel militiamen—was yet to release details of the call.

France, Russia and the US are co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, formed in 1992 to mediate a peaceful resolution over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

Reports indicate that at least 100 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in the flare-up in hostilities—which has brought about the worst fighting since the 1988-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War—but with almost all reports of casualties as yet unverified there is every chance that the death toll could already be far worse.

October 1 also saw two French Le Monde journalists covering the clashes seriously injured by shelling as they were visiting an Armenian-held town, Martuni, on a press tour. The pair were taken to hospital and one was in “grave condition” and undergoing surgery, Armenian authorities said. A Russian news outlet said one of its journalists was caught up in the same bombardment, but made it to a bunker in time. “Fortunately, there was a basement nearby, and we all ran there,” the Russian correspondent, Dmitry Elovsky, told his outlet. “Colleagues from Le Monde were in a different car.”

In a statement, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry accused Armenia of “endangering the lives” of the journalists and “grossly violating international humanitarian law” by enabliing journalists to visit the frontline.

Iran, meanwhile, which officially maintains a neutral stance towards the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan but is widely regarded as favouring Armenia, expressed concern at the presence of Syrian fighters in the battle, as well as at reports that Armenia has shipped in Kurdish militants to fight on its side. Those reports are unverified.

Armenia’s Israel ambassador recalled

In another development, Armenia recalled its ambassador to Israel, a long-time arms supplier to Azerbaijan. “Israel’s work style is unacceptable,” Armenia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan said.

Russia is part of a military alliance with Armenia and has military bases in the country, but it also has close ties to the government of Azerbaijan.

France’s population has around 600,000 people of Armenian origin.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Octobe 1 directly accused Turkey of sending Syrian jihadists to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh. "It is a very serious new fact, which changes the situation," he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that around 900 Syrian mercenaries have been transported to Azerbaijan by Turkish security companies. But they added that Armenian-born fighters in Syria have also been transported to Armenia to join the fight.

Armenia on October 1 also said it had shot down four drones in provinces near Yerevan, the capital. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on social media that the drones appeared in Armenian airspace in the provinces of Kotayk and Gegharkunik and that Armenian air defence forces destroyed them.

Pashinian has said this week that the involvement of Turkey—which has the second largest standing army in Nato—in the conflict posed an “existential threat” to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

On October 1, he went further, accusing Turkey of “once again advancing on a genocidal path”, with its military directly leading the offensive by Azerbaijani forces against ethnic Armenian forces around Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Genocidal path”

“The situation is much more serious [than previous major clashes in 2016]. It would be more appropriate to compare it with what happened in 1915, when more than 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered during the first genocide of the 20th century,” Pashinian told Le Figaro newspaper in an interview. “The Turkish state, which continues to deny the past, is once again venturing down a genocidal path,” he added.

The comments will anger Ankara. Turkey recongises that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in World War One clashes with Ottoman forces. However, it disputes the numbers and rejects the accusation that the killings were systematic and constituted a genocide.

“The world must be aware of what is going on here,” continued Pashinian.

“Turkey’s wish is to strengthen its role and influence in the South Caucasus. It’s pursuing the dream of building an empire imitating the Sultanate and it is embarking on a path that could set the region ablaze.”

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