Karabakh: Escalation of the conflict

As a result of hostilities in Karabakh, not only the military, but also civilians suffered

On the night of April 2, a new round of armed confrontation began in Nagorno -Karabakh. Both sides blame each other.

The Armenian military claims that the Azerbaijani forces began an offensive. Azerbaijani military stated that they answered the fire. There are no exact data on the number of dead. The Azerbaijani side denied the previously appeared information about the 200 dead soldiers of Azerbaijan. The Ministry of Defense of Karabakh reported that civilians are dying, including a 12-year-old child. This information is confirmed.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense reported the death of 12 of its troops . The Armenian Ministry of Defense noted that these were the most intense armed actions since the ceasefire to reach the USA in 1994, and called on the USA, Russia and France, the co -chairs of the so -called Minsk group to resolve the conflict in Nagorno -Karabakh, and immediate actions. At the same time, the heads of state of Armenia and Azerbaijan were in Washington at the time of the fire of the conflict.

By the evening of April 2, reports of a sharp exacerbation of the conflict began to be received. The UN Secretary General made a statement:

The full text of the application for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict pic.twitter.com/m8d7yhoign

- UN (@unitedNational) April 2, 2016

The general secretary of the Council of Europe also called for the renewal of the negotiation process.

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe called on the parties to the conflict in Karabakh to resume negotiations | https://t.co/7jwoqgmtme pic.twitter.com/fapyrregd

-Eurasiadiary-Russian (@eurasiarus) April 2, 2016

The Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia, Paul Bulbul-Ogly, said that attempts to diplomatically resolve the conflict with Armenia on Nagorno-Karabakh proved their inefficiency, and therefore the “military path” remains the only decision. According to the diplomat, who performed on the air of the Moscow Radio Says Moscow, 21 percent of the Azerbaijani territory is occupied by Armenian troops, so the heads of republics will be able to sit down at the table of negotiations only when the Armed Forces of Armenia leave the territory of Nagorno -Karabakh.

The Armenian military department accused Azerbaijan of unleashing offensive actions using tanks and armored vehicles, heavy artillery and helicopters.

The Countries, presiding in the Minsk group, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, addressed the armed actions to stop armed actions.

Arkady Dubnov thinks about what could contribute to the current exacerbation of the crisis in an interview with Radio:

-There is no reliable information from the conflict zone, which gives the headline to those who began military operations, because it was impossible to understand who was the first and in whose interests it was impossible for one simple reason: for a long time, international military observers have been withdrawn from the zone for a long time. And this is a rather convex evidence that this can be used. And the second, it seems to me not accidental that the aggravation began at the moment when neither Ilham Aliyev, nor Serge Sargsyan, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, were in its countries. Both of them were present at the nuclear security summit in Washington. And here there is always a temptation to pretend that the authorities did not know what their military subordinates made in the hope that somehow military success would be achieved, and then the winners were not judged. And if everything turns out unsuccessfully, then it will always be possible to blame them with guilt and say that this was an excess of authority, and the high authorities have nothing to do with it. So political tricks are evident here.

- If we talk about the nuclear security summit in Washington, then Russia was not present there. And yes, first of all, it was noted today that the fire of the conflict occurred just at a time when both leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia met in Washington with US Vice President Joe Bayden, discussed Nagorno-Karabakh. The conspiracy theory has already been withdrawn from this that, perhaps, Russia has already somehow intervened and decided to annoy the US unilateral world peacekeeping.

- I saw this kind of conspiracy therapy. With all my critical attitude to Putin’s politics, I cannot share these delights, because it is difficult for me to assume that, firstly, the Kremlin has such significant levers of influence on the situation from any of the parties. Since I suppose, or rather, I assume, on the basis of analysis, who could start in this case, although I have no right to talk about it now, I have no evidence, but I have only an analysis of the situation, I do not see the opportunity to have levers of influence on one side to warm up the situation so. In addition, this is a very risky game, because we are not able to today even six months ago, until November 24, 2015, when there was an incident with a shot down by the Russian bomber of the Turkish Air Force. And the Russian-Turkish conflict today is a constant, and laying brushwood in a fire, inciting conflict in Karabakh, is extremely dangerous. After all, then Karabakh will no longer become a field of rhetorical rhythmicity, which came after November 24 between Moscow and Ankara, but the actual field of the battle. Ankara will support Baku, Moscow will support Yerevan ...

-Suddenly such an amorphous organization as the CSTO (organization of collective security agreement), which never happened on the territory of its countries of the participating countries, did not interfere with an urgent statement and call to the world. What is it connected with?

- CSTO cannot but react. We are talking about a conflict to which a member of the CSTO - Armenia is related. But I would pay attention to the fact that now it is very neatly emphasized, the circumstance that makes it possible to not be drawn into this conflict according to its charter to the side of its ally. The point is that the unrecognized Nagoric Karabakh and Azerbaijan are involved in the conflict. And the unrecognized Nagoric Karabakh is not a member of the CSTO. This is another trick that allows the CSTO to keep a certain distance, interested, but distance.

- From the previous practice and the experience of resolving flashes of tension in Nagorno -Karabakh, what actions of the international community should follow now?

- The first thing is necessary is to suspend military operations, because, according to reports, there are already victims among the civilians, including children. I am alarmed by some braking from those who, first of all, should have acted now and make every effort. I mean the co -chairs of the Minsk OSCE group. A completely amazing message that they intend to meet next week in Vienna. Does this mean that they enable the parties to “predict” their military efforts, to achieve some kind of military advantage? This is completely incomprehensible to me, risky and suspicious. I think that today the best way out would be a joint statement by the heads of states that are present in the Minsk group, I mean France, Russia and the United States. And the Russian diplomat Anatoly Adamishin, with whom I had just talked, generally told me that the best would now be a parallel decision of the Russian-Turkish conflict, that is, the joint statement of Recep Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, which could allow the growth of the conflict, the journalist and political commentator Arkady Dubnov said.

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  Irina Lagunina

  Head of Special Projects of Russian Service Radio Liberty

  Laguninai@rferl.org