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Smoke rises after a shelling next to the Ghazanchetsots (Holy Saviour) Cathedral in the historic city of Shusha, some 15 kilometres from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh province's capital Stepanakert,  on October 8, 2020 as fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces spilt over today, with fresh shelling in the city ahead of a first meeting of international mediators in Geneva - Sputnik International

Live Updates: Turkey Says Will Not Hesitate to Send Troops to Help Azerbaijan if Baku Requests It

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Armenia and Azerbaijan have twice agreed on a Russia-brokered humanitarian ceasefire to exchange prisoners and dead bodies, however both times the truce has been breached as the two sides have accused each other of violating the agreement.

Armenian Defence Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said the Azerbaijani Armed Forces' operation against the unrecognised republic of Nagorno-Karabakh was unsuccessful.

Hovhannisyan said these strike forces had been unable to break through the defensive lines of the Karabakh Defence Army. He said that after five to seven days of unsuccessful battles, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, apparently, concentrated all their forces in the south and began to act by squeezing the region.

The fighting on the contact line in Karabakh began on 27 September. Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of unleashing hostilities, Karabakh reports artillery shelling of peaceful settlements of the unrecognised republic, including its capital, Stepanakert. Armenia has declared martial law and - for the first time - general mobilisation, claiming that Ankara is actively supporting Baku. Partial mobilisation was introduced in Azerbaijan.

The leaders of Russia, the United States and France have called on the opposing sides to end the clashes and to commit themselves to begin negotiations without preconditions. Turkey has stated that it will provide Azerbaijan with any support it requests amid another aggravation of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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22:48 GMT 21.10.2020

YEREVAN (Sputnik) – The military conflict in Azerbaijan's conflict-torn Nagorno-Karabakh region can be resolved only via peaceful means, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, which, in fact, contradicts with Wednesday remarks of country's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

On Wednesday, Pashinyan said that there was currently no diplomatic solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis because of the existing differences between Yerevan and Baku.

"Consistently pursuing the position of excluding the military settlement of the conflict, we once again emphasize that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved exclusively by peaceful means, within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, which holds an international mandate. We call on Azerbaijan and its supporter Turkey not to undermine the efforts of the international community to establish a verifiable ceasefire regime, and not to engage in their traditional policy of blame shifting," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on late Wednesday.

The ministry added that Armenia was supporting the unconditional implementation of the ceasefire agreements reached on 10 October and 17 October.

 

17:35 GMT 21.10.2020

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, discussed the situation in Karabakh by phone, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

"On October 21, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov held a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu. The ministers exchanged views on the latest situation in the region. The ministers stressed the need to end the occupation of Azerbaijani territories to ensure lasting peace in the region," the ministry said.

17:23 GMT 21.10.2020

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Wednesday that his country might send troops to Nagorno-Karabakh if receives such a request from Azerbaijan.

"From the very first day, our president has already outlined his position. Turkey will not hesitate, and our president, even more so, will not," Oktay said, answering a relevant question in an interview with CNN Turk broadcaster.

16:42 GMT 21.10.2020

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that his country's army has taken under control 22 villages in Nagorno-Karabakh.

16:37 GMT 21.10.2020

Every nation should stay out of the ongoing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters in a press briefing on Wednesday.

"It’s a complicated situation on the ground, it’s a complicated diplomatic situation in our view remains [sic], as does the view of nearly every European country that the right path forward is to cease the conflict, tell them to deescalate, that every country should stay out, provide no fuel for this conflict, no weapons systems, no support," Pompeo said.

Pompeo emphasized that he will talk to the top diplomats of Armenia and Azerbaijan when they visit Washington on Friday.

"I am anxious to hear from them what they are seeing on the ground and how we might get close to what it is we think not only in the United States’ best interest but in each of their country’s best interests as well," Pompeo said.

Armed hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh have been ongoing since September 27. Armenia and Azerbaijan have since agreed to two humanitarian ceasefires, but broke both hours after entering into force. The warring sides have continued to accuse each other of provocations and attacks on civilian settlements.

15:59 GMT 21.10.2020
15:49 GMT 21.10.2020

NATO is not part of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the military alliance hopes that a peaceful solution is found, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday at a joint press conference with Armenian President Armen Sarkissian.

"We also addressed the crisis in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. I reminded the president that NATO is not a part of this conflict. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have been valued NATO partners for more than 25 years," Stoltenberg said.

"It is important for NATO and international security that hostilities end, the suffering stops, and a peaceful solution is found," Stoltenberg said.

15:25 GMT 21.10.2020
14:47 GMT 21.10.2020

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Yerevan was feeling the support of Russia as a strategic partner.

"I highly appreciate the cooperation between Armenia and Russia. We feel the support of Russia as a strategic ally of Armenia and the Armenian people. There are constant contacts between our countries. We have cooperated and continue cooperating to resolve the issue [of Nagorno-Karabakh], including taking into account that Russia is a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and a strategic partner of Armenia. I think that, based on these two statuses, Russia has done its best and will continue to do so," Pashinyan said in a video statement on Facebook.

Armed hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh have been ongoing since September 27. The parties have since agreed to two humanitarian ceasefires, however, both were broken mere hours after entering into force. The warring sides have continued to accuse each other of provocations and attacks on civilian settlements.

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh initially began in February 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its secession from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic. During an armed confrontation from 1992-1994, Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and its adjacent areas. Since 1992, talks have been ongoing on a peaceful settlement to the conflict with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group, led by Russia, the United States and France.

14:40 GMT 21.10.2020

Foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan may meet this week in Washington to discuss ways to stop hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh disputed region, US Representative to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison told reporters on Wednesday.

“I believe that both foreign ministers are going to be meeting in Washington, at least that was a plan for them to meet in Washington this week to discuss a way to stop the violence, to stop the killing,” Hutchison said during a briefing in Brussels.

Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenia’s Zohrab Mnatsakanyan have confirmed that they will be visiting the United States on Friday, but there has been no word yet on the possibility of their face-to-face meeting. 

13:58 GMT 21.10.2020
12:16 GMT 21.10.2020

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed the belief on Wednesday that there is currently no diplomatic solution to the Karabakh crisis and it will not appear soon due to the existing differences with Azerbaijan.

"The Karabakh issue does not have a diplomatic solution, and it will not have one for a long time ... Experience has shown that things that are acceptable for Armenia are not acceptable for Azerbaijan. This means that there is no sense to talk about any diplomatic solution, at least at this stage," Pashinyan said in a video address that he posted on Facebook.

10:59 GMT 21.10.2020
10:23 GMT 21.10.2020
07:51 GMT 21.10.2020
07:41 GMT 21.10.2020

Azerbaijani military shelled the town of Markakert in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday morning, the State Service of Emergency Situations of the self-proclaimed republic said.

"On the night of October 20-21, a ceasefire was relatively supported in all settlements [of Nagorno-Karabakh], and at dawn, Martakert with the surrounding villages came under attack. Yesterday, aviation was used in the same area, and civilian infrastructure was bombed," the agency said.

The unrecognized republic also accused Baku of violating the ceasefire and using prohibited weapons against its civilian population.

07:41 GMT 21.10.2020

As many as 63 civilians were killed since the beginning of the escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh, and 292 people were injured, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office said on Wednesday.

"A total of 63 civilians were killed, 292 civilians were injured, 1,981 hoses and 90 apartment buildings became uninhabitable, and 386 civilian facilities fell into disrepair," the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement.

06:59 GMT 21.10.2020

A battalion of the 556th regiment of the Armenian Armed Forces was fully disarmed after successful military operations of Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

"As a result of the actions taken by the Azerbaijan Army during the combat operations in the Jabrayil direction of the front, a battalion of the 556th regiment of the Armenian armed forces was taken out of action. Most of the battalion's military personnel, consisting of about 400 contract servicemen, were disarmed." the ministry wrote on the official Facebook page.

06:30 GMT 21.10.2020

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry refuted on Wednesday Armenia's claims about an aircraft of the Azerbaijani armed forces that was allegedly downed in Karabakh.

"The information about an allegedly downed Azerbaijani military plane, spread by the Armenian side, is another falsification by the Armenian military propaganda machine," the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said in a statement.

06:27 GMT 21.10.2020
06:05 GMT 21.10.2020

The army of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic downed on Wednesday an Azerbaijani plane in the southern area of the contact line, the Armenian Defense Ministry's spokeswoman, Shushan Stepanyan, said.

"Air defense units of the Artsakh Defence Army downed at around 08:30 [04:30 GMT] an enemy aircraft in the southern direction of the contact line. The situation [on the contact line] is tense but stable," Stepanyan wrote on Facebook.

06:04 GMT 21.10.2020
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