According to Azerbaijani media reports, Armenia bombed Azerbaijani positions near the war-torn Karabakh region over the weekend. The two former Soviet republics have been fighting for this dominance for almost thirty years. This time, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry accused Armenia of attacking Azerbaijani army positions near Lachin and Kalbajar. And later, the Azerbaijani army retaliated.
At the time when the Karabakh war ended with a ceasefire agreement in 2020, there are still outbreaks of violence between the two countries, and they have intensified since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The ceasefire was negotiated through Russia and was monitored in the past. through a Russian peacekeeping force. But since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russia has not paid attention to the events in Karabakh, which encourages outbreaks.
According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “Even before the Ukrainian war, the Karabakh confrontation was already a diplomatic and security minefield that Moscow can only navigate with difficulty. Now, Russia also cannot (or does not want) to impose peace, with reports that Moscow has no longer deployed a full contingent of peacekeepers there.
In light of this, other countries have tried to fill the void left by Russian peacekeepers. According to State Department spokesman Ned Price, “Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken held talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The secretary and President Aliyev discussed the historic opportunity of Azerbaijan and Armenia for peace in the region. The Secretary reiterated the United States Offer of Assistance to Facilitate the Opening of Regional Transportation and Communication Links.
“Secretary Blinken encouraged the continuation of bilateral dialogue, such as the recent assembly between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Tbilisi,” Price added. he has been co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group since 1994 and is in a position to have bilateral interaction and with like-minded partners to help Armenia and Azerbaijan find a comprehensive long-term peace.
Four UN Security Council resolutions recognize that the Karabakh region and the seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan, in addition to Lachin and Kalbajar, belong to Azerbaijan under foreign law. Only about thirty years ago, the external network under the aegis of the Minsk Group has tried, without success, to get Armenia to return to those lands and make peace with Azerbaijan.
After Armenia attacked Azerbaijan’s positions in 2020, Azerbaijan retaliated by liberating the maximum of Karabakh and the seven districts of Azerbaijan. However, a ceasefire agreement was signed under russia’s auspices, which ended the conflict. case of last weekend’s attacks.
Printed by: https://www. jewishpress. com/news/global/europe/ukraine/as-russian-peacekeepers-leave-for-ukraine-armenia-and-azerbaijan-resume-border-clashes/2022/08/02 /