EREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Armenian and Azerbaijani forces fought monday for the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, and both sides blamed themselves for resuming attacks that allegedly killed and wounded dozens of others when decades-long confrontation resumed.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense said Armenian forces bombed the city of Tartar, while Armenian officials said fighting continued overnight and Baku resumed “offensive operations” in the morning.
Azerbaijani army officers told the News Firm Interfax that more than 550 Armenian infantrymen were “destroyed (including the wounded)” in a report Armenia denied.
According to officials from the predominantly Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, 58 infantrymen have been killed so far. The Defense of the Territory also reported on Sunday that two civilians were killed: A and his grandson Array
About two hundred infantrymen were wounded, but many were only wounded and returned to action, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said. The Azerbaijani government said nine civilians had been killed and 32 wounded. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday that Baku’s forces had also suffered casualties, but did not specify.
Intense fighting broke out in Azerbaijan’s internal region on Sunday, under the command of subsidized Armenian ethnic forces through Yerevan’s government since 1994 at the end of a separatist war.
Azerbaijan said it had destroyed two Armenian tanks and the Nagorno-Karabakh Ministry of Defense reported that Baku had “lost 10 armored cars in a tank battle. “
Armenia’s Ministry of Defense said that as fighting continued, “all offensives through Azerbaijan’s armed forces were effectively suppressed, the enemy repelled” and suffered casualties.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a caucasus mountains region of approximately 4400 square kilometers (1700 square miles) or roughly the length of Delaware state in the US. USA, It is located 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the border with Armenia. Armenian-backed infantry also occupy it. component of Azerbaijani territory outside the region.
The European Union has suggested that both sides avoid fighting and return to the negotiating table, following calls from Iran, Russia, France and the United States.
“We hope and urge everyone to do everything they can to save them from all-out war, because this is the last thing the region needs,” European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said in Brussels. “There is no military solution to this conflict. “
Five European countries – Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom – on Tuesday for a closed-door assembly of the UN Security Council on escalating the conflict.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and called for “a rapid cessation of fighting, a reduction in tensions and a return to constructive negotiations without preconditions or delays,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the stage “is a fear for Moscow and other countries. “
“We, who deserve hostilities deserve to be ended without delay,” Peskov said, adding that the confrontation resolution procedure deserves to move to a “political-diplomatic” dimension.
The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Turkey, which sided with Azerbaijan in the conflict, with supporting “this aggression”.
“Turkish army experts are fighting from appearance to look with Azerbaijan, which uses Turkish weapons, adding drones and fighter jets,” the ministry said. The scenario “clearly indicates” that the other people of Nagorno-Karabakh are fighting “a Turkish-Azerbaijan alliance,” the saying.
Armenia and Turkey have accused others of recruiting foreign mercenaries.
Omer Celik, spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, denied reports that Turkey had sent foreign weapons or fighters to Azerbaijan.
“Armenia is concerned about Turkey’s solidarity with Azerbaijan and is generating lies opposed to Turkey,” Celik tweeted.
Erdogan reiterated Turkey’s for Azerbaijan and said Armenia’s early withdrawal from the region was the only way to achieve peace.
“All other taxes and threats will be unfair and illegal, but they will continue to please Armenia,” he said.
Erdogan criticized France, the United States and Russia, the three presidents of the so-called Minsk organization established in 1992 for the Nagorno-Karabakh confrontation, saying they had failed to solve the challenge for 30 years.
“They did their no to solve this problem. And now they come to advise and factor threats. They say” Is Turkey here, is the Turkish army there?Erdogan said.
“Who occupied the land? The lands of Azerbaijan . . . No one is asking (Armenia) to be held accountable. Azerbaijan has been forced to take its own hands,” he added.
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Associated Press editors Daria Litvinova in Moscow, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed.