Azerbaijan launches operation against Nagorno-Karabakh and demands surrender
By Paul Kirby
BBC News
Azerbaijan has launched “anti-terror” operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, and said it will not stop until ethnic-Armenian separatists surrender.
Tensions in the South Caucasus have been high for months around the breakaway enclave, recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan and Armenia last went to war three years ago.
Baku ordered “Illegal Armenian military formations” to hand over arms and dissolve their “illegal regime”.
Azerbaijan and Armenia first went to war in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. Then in 2020 Azerbaijan recaptured areas in and around Nagorno-Karabakh before a truce was agreed and monitored by Russian peacekeepers.
Ethnic Armenians in Karabakh appealed on Tuesday for a ceasefire and for talks to start. But it was clear from the Azerbaijani ultimatum that Baku’s aim was to complete its conquest of the mountainous enclave.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of starting a ground operation aimed at “ethnic cleansing”.
But hundreds of Armenian protesters, frustrated by their country’s response, clashed with police outside parliament in Yerevan, condemning their leader as a traitor and calling on him to resign.
Azerbaijan said talks could start in the town of Yevlakh, some 100km (60km) north of the Karabakh regional capital of Khankendi, called Stepanakert by ethnic Armenians.
Since the end of 2020, 3,000 Russians have monitored the fragile truce but Moscow’s attention has been diverted by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
An estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians live in the mountainous enclave. Russia said its soldiers were evacuating civilians from Karabakh and had moved almost 500 from the most at-risk areas.
For the past nine months Azerbaijan has imposed an effective blockade on the only route into the enclave from Armenia, known as the Lachin Corridor.
Azerbaijan said it had launched its operation in response to the deaths of six people, including four police, in two fatal landmine explosions on Tuesday morning.
Air raid sirens then rang out and the sound of artillery and gunfire could be heard in Karabakh’s main city. Residential buildings were damaged and journalist
Karabakh officials said five people had been killed and dozens more wounded, including women and children.
Defence officials in the breakaway region said the Azerbaijani military had “violated the ceasefire along the entire line of contact with missile-artillery strikes”. Other Karabakh representatives spoke of a “large-scale military offensive” although later reports said that the intensity of fire had decreased.
The Azerbaijan defence ministry insisted it was not targeting civilians or civilian buildings, and that “only legitimate military targets are being incapacitated by the use of high-precision weapons”.
It accused Armenian forces of “systematic shelling” of its army positions and said it had responded by launching “local, anti-terrorist activities… to disarm and secure the withdrawal of formations of Armenia’s armed forces from our territories”.
In a brief televised address, Armenia’s prime minister rejected claims that his military was involved.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it had been warned of the Azerbaijani offensive only minutes in advance and urged both countries to respect a ceasefire signed after the war in 2020. The EU’s regional special representative, Toivo Klaar, said there was “urgent need for immediate ceasefire”.
South Caucasus commentator Laurence Broers said on Tuesday the Armenian population in Karabakh had been weakened by the blockade and the Azerbaijan operation had been launched “seemingly to retake Armenian-populated Karabakh in its entirety”.
Nikol Pashinyan said recently that Russia was “spontaneously leaving the region”. Azerbaijan has meanwhile had strong support from its ally Turkey.
Hikmet Hajiyev, special adviser to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, called on the separatist ethnic-Armenian administration to “dissolve itself”.
“Azerbaijan has always said we are ready to provide rights and security of Karabakh Armenians under the constitution,” he told BBC News.
Azerbaijan had denied building up troop numbers in the region. On Monday, it allowed aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross into Karabakh on two roads, one via the Lachin Corridor from Armenia and the other on Azerbaijan’s Aghdam road.
Before Tuesday’s offensive began there had been hopes that tensions might subside.
The Azerbaijan defence ministry released images of a vehicle which it said were destroyed by a land mine, but ethnic Armenian officials said it was Azerbaijan’s military that had violated the ceasefire.
Clash Report
@clashreport
#BREAKING Azerbaijani Presidency:
In connection with the call of the illegal regime created and still supported by Armenia on the territory of Azerbaijan to “begin negotiations”, the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan reports that the Administration has several times invited representatives of the Armenian population living in the Karabakh region of our country to dialogue with for the purpose of discussing reintegration issues.
But they refused it every time.
The Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan declares its readiness to meet in Yevlakh with representatives of the Armenian population living in the Karabakh region of our country.
However, to stop anti-terrorism measures, illegal Armenian armed groups must raise the white flag, surrender all weapons, and the illegal regime must dissolve itself.
Otherwise, anti-terrorist measures will be continued to the end.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Azerbaijani #BayraktarTB2 UAV destroys another target of the Armenian Army in Karabakh.
🚨 More footage to come, stay tuned.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Azerbaijani MoD:
We once again call on the units of the Armenian armed forces located in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan to lay down their weapons and surrender.
In this case, anti-terrorist measures will be suspended.
We are in operative contact with the Russian peacekeeping contingent temporarily stationed in the territory of Azerbaijan, and we are creating all conditions for them to perform their duties.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Azerbaijani Bayraktar TB2 UCAV strike on Armenian Army artillery positions.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Russian peacekeepers published footage from the evacuation of civilians in Karabakh.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Azerbaijani sources claim Azerbaijani side has given separatists in Karabakh until tomorrow to lay down their arms and raise the white flag.
Otherwise, a large-scale ground anti-terrorist operation will be carried out.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Blinken:
The U.S. calls on Azerbaijan to stop military actions in Karabakh, which are interfering with a peaceful settlement.
Clash Report
@clashreport
#BREAKING A coup is brewing in Armenia.
One of the opposition leaders Andranik Tevanyan called for overthrowing the government, and there are clashes between protesters and police.
All the while Azerbaijani armed forces are destroying the Armenian Armed Forces in Karabakh.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Turkish President Erdogan says Ankara supports Baku’s operation in Karabakh.
Erdogan added that the main goal should be the peaceful cohabitation of Azerbaijanis and Armenians in Karabakh.
Clash Report
@clashreport
#BREAKING Azerbaijani MoD:
More than 60 combat posts came under the control of Azerbaijan.
Up to 20 military vehicles, more than 40 artillery installations, more than 30 mortars, 2 anti-aircraft missile systems, and more than 6 electronic warfare stations were destroyed.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Turkish MFA:
Azerbaijan had to take the measures it deemed necessary on its sovereign territory.
Clash Report
@clashreport
The command of the Russian peacekeepers calls on the conflicting parties in Karabakh to immediately cease fire and continue negotiations.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Armenia-backed illegal regime in Karabakh says fighting continues along the entire line of contact.
The Azerbaijani Armed Forces use artillery and missiles, UCAVs, and combat aircraft.
Clash Report
@clashreport
#BREAKING Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry slams France:
France’s position shows that it has not learned lessons from the current situation in the colonial territories it is facing today and continues to pursue its previous policies in this regard.
French officials are even more active than Armenia in anti-Azerbaijani statements.
France’s Islamophobic and anti-Azerbaijani policy, its unacceptable interference in our internal affairs show that the further France is from the region, the better for the region.
Clash Report
@clashreport
French President Macron informed Pashinyan about the initiation of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in connection with the situation in Karabakh.
Protests outside the Armenian Parliament in Yerevan continue:
“Nikol, the traitor!” pic.twitter.com/PD13XIBVSP
— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 19, 2023
Clash Report
@clashreport
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
They discussed the situation in Karabakh.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Kremlin:
The safety of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh is a priority for the Kremlin, and there are no reports of threats to their lives.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Kremlin on the situation in Karabakh:
The Kremlin is concerned about the sharp escalation in the region; the main thing now is to convince Yerevan and Baku to abandon forceful methods.
The Azerbaijani Armed Forces must take measures to ensure the safety of civilians in the region.
The Russian military is in contact with the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides, and contacts at the highest level are possible.
On the possibility of increasing the Russian contingent in Karabakh: such decisions are formulated by the military, and this is agreed upon with all parties.
There is an opportunity to reach a political and diplomatic solution to the problem.
The Kremlin calls on Yerevan and Baku to follow the previously signed trilateral documents.
Clash Report
@clashreport
#BREAKING Azerbaijani presidential adviser Hikmet Hajiyev:
The main objectives of Azerbaijan’s operation in Karabakh are close to completion, military targets have already been neutralized.
Wounded servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces are being taken to the Khankendi hospital. pic.twitter.com/ymTDmIFdHx
— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 19, 2023
Clash Report
@clashreport
#BREAKING Armenia-backed illegal regime in Karabakh appeals to the Azerbaijani side to immediately stop the fire and sit down at the negotiation table in order to resolve the situation.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Azerbaijani presidential adviser Hikmet Hajiyev:
The main goal of Azerbaijan’s operation in Karabakh is the destruction of the military infrastructure of the illegitimate regime.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Medvedev has a story to tell over Armenia:
One day, one of my colleagues from a fraternal country told me: “Well, I’m a stranger to you, you won’t accept me.”
I answered what I had to: “We will judge not by biography, but by deeds.”
Then he lost the war, but strangely stayed in place.
Then he decided to blame Russia for his mediocre defeat. Then he gave up part of the territory of his country. Then he decided to flirt with NATO, and his wife defiantly went to our enemies with cookies.
Guess what fate awaits him…
Clash Report
@clashreport
Pashinyan says Armenian authorities should not take any uncalculated, drastic and adventurous actions, expects Russian peacekeepers to take action to stabilize the situation in Karabakh.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Armenian PM Pashinyan:
The situation along the borders of Armenia is currently relatively stable, but I emphasize that the main goal of this operation is to involve Armenia in a military operation.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Armenian PM Pashinyan:
Some forces, both internal and external, are trying to drag Armenia into the war.
I confirm once again that the Armenian Armed Forces are not in Nagorno-Karabakh.
They won’t succeed. No matter how difficult it may be, particularly emotionally, we must not give the opportunity to some forces, external and internal, to jeopardize Armenian statehood.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Armenia says Russia did not inform Armenia about Azerbaijan’s military operations in Karabakh.
Clash Report
@clashreport
Phone call between the defense ministers of Azerbaijan and Türkiye.
Azerbaijani Defence Minister Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov & Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler had a phone call.
Hasanov informed his colleague about local anti-terrorist measures in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
Güler said Türkiye stands by Azerbaijan today as always.
