Azerbaijan launched a military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday, three years after the previous war, demanding the surrender of its Armenian adversary in this region disputed with Armenia for decades.
At the start of the evening, the Azerbaijani presidency called on the troops of this secessionist territory of Azerbaijan, mainly populated by Armenians, to lay down their arms, a sine qua non condition for the start of negotiations.
“The illegal Armenian armed forces must raise the white flag, surrender all weapons, and the illegal regime must dissolve. Otherwise, anti-terrorist operations will continue until the end,” she declared, echoing Azerbaijani diplomacy which demanded “total and unconditional” surrender.
The presidency proposed, in the event of capitulation, talks “with representatives of the Armenian population of Karabakh in Yevlakh”, an Azerbaijani town located 295 km west of Baku.
Before that, the authorities in this disputed region had called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations.
At least 29 dead
The fighting left at least 29 dead, including two civilians, and more than 200 injured in this region where around 7,000 residents of 16 localities were evacuated, according to the separatists.
For its part, Azerbaijan reported that two civilians had died in areas under its control.
Separatists claim that several towns in Nagorno-Karabakh, including its capital, Stepanakert, are targeted by “intensive shooting” which also targets civilian infrastructure.
The clashes are taking place “along the entire line of contact” in this territory, and the Azerbaijanis are using “artillery”, rockets, attack drones and planes, they said.
Sixty Armenian positions were conquered there, Baku announced in the evening.
As for Armenia, which denounced a “large-scale aggression” for the purposes of “ethnic cleansing”, it assured that it had no troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, suggesting that the separatists were alone against the Azerbaijani soldiers.
And she considers that it is up to Russia, guarantor of a ceasefire dating from 2020 with peace forces on the ground, to act to “stop Azerbaijani aggression”.
The 2020 conflict resulted in a military rout of Armenia, which had to cede ground to Azerbaijan in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
A ceasefire, negotiated by Russia, was concluded by these two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus, without ever reaching a peace agreement.
Dragging Armenia into war?
In Baku, the Ministry of Defense announced Tuesday morning the launch of “anti-terrorist operations”, after the death of six Azerbaijanis in the explosion of mines on the site of a tunnel under construction between Choucha and Fizouli, two towns in Nagorno-Karabakh under the control of Azerbaijan.
It was a group of separatist “saboteurs” who planted these explosive devices, according to the Azerbaijani security services.
“The failure of the international community to act is at the origin of the Azerbaijani offensive,” declared the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Tensions have been growing for months around this territory which has already been at the heart of two wars between Yerevan and Baku. The first lasted from 1988 to 1994, and that of fall 2020 ended after six weeks.
The Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinian, accused the Azerbaijanis of wanting to “drag Armenia into hostilities”.
The situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is currently “stable”, he nevertheless stressed.
Fear of “unrest” in Armenia
Nikol Pashinian, whom the opposition accuses of having been responsible for the defeat three years ago, at the same time denounced calls for a “coup d’état” in his country, where clashes in front of the government headquarters opposed police officers and demonstrators calling him a “traitor” and demanding his resignation.
Several people who were victims of this violence had to be hospitalized, according to the Ministry of Health.
“There is currently a real risk of widespread unrest in Armenia,” Armenian security services warned Tuesday evening, promising “measures to maintain constitutional order” and warning citizens against “various provocations.”
Dozens of people also gathered in front of the Russian embassy in Yerevan to denounce this country’s inaction in the face of the Azerbaijani offensive.
Call for an “immediate cessation” of hostilities
Baku specified that it had informed both Russia – which then indicated that it had only been informed “a few minutes” before they began – and Turkey of its operations.
The Kremlin, “concerned”, said through its spokesperson that it was trying to convince Armenia and Azerbaijan to return “to the negotiating table”, while the Russian peacekeeping mission in Upper Karabakh has called for an “immediate” ceasefire.
As for Turkey, which described as “legitimate” the concerns that led the Azerbaijanis to embark on military action, it also urged, at the same time, the “continuation of the negotiation process between Azerbaijan and Armenia “.
“We support the measures taken by Azerbaijan […] to defend its territorial integrity,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In contrast, for the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, who advocates “an immediate cessation” of hostilities, the use of force is “unacceptable”, and “these actions [de Bakou] worsen an already difficult humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and undermine prospects for peace.”
Similar reaction from French President Emmanuel Macron, who shortly afterwards condemned the Azerbaijani offensive “with the greatest firmness” and called for its “immediate cessation”.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who has already mediated between the two countries, also considered that Azerbaijan should “immediately” interrupt its operations.
Nikol Pashinian, who did not report discussions with Vladimir Putin, had two telephone conversations with MM. Macron and Blinken.