Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan launches “anti-terror operation” | STERN.de

Years of conflict
“Anti-terror operation”: Azerbaijan launches attack against Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh

Fights continue to flare up between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Now Azerbaijan wants to completely take back the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region – with an “anti-terror operation” against Armenia.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which has been simmering for years, has reached a new peak. Azerbaijan says it has launched “anti-terror operations” in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. They are directed against Armenian forces, said the Defense Ministry in Baku. “As part of the measures, positions on the front line and deep, long-term firing points of the formations of the Armed Forces of Armenia, as well as combat assets and military installations with precision weapons will be incapacitated,” the statement said. Turkey and Russia have been informed of the action.

The situation on site is confusing. Azerbaijan accuses units of the Armenian armed forces of opening fire. In the statement, Azerbaijan justified its anti-terrorism operation as a retaliatory measure.

The aim of the operation was to “neutralize the military infrastructure,” the foreign policy adviser to the Azerbaijani president told the newspaper Politico. The local Armenian population was informed about the “anti-terror measures” via SMS.

In the early afternoon (local time), the Open Causasus Media platform reported an air raid alarm in Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. AFP reporters on site also reported explosions. According to Azerbaijani sources, six people were previously killed in a mine explosion, including two civilians and several police officers.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh

Unlike the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia had been around for a century, but flared up again with the collapse of the former Soviet Union. The region has been contested for centuries because it has repeatedly been under Armenian, Persian, Tatar-Mongolian, Turkish and Russian influence.

With the independence of Armenia and Azerbaijan from the Russian Empire in 1918, both countries laid claim to the region in the South Caucasus. Supported by Turkey, the then Ottoman Empire, Azerbaijan finally received administrative rights over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which was already predominantly populated by Armenians. An agreement should at least guarantee extensive autonomy rights. However, these were repeatedly violated, which increasingly hardened the fronts between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Under Soviet rule, these tensions were largely suppressed. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the conflict escalated again. The first major war between the two countries took place in the 1990s and claimed tens of thousands of lives on both sides between 1992 and 1994. A ceasefire agreement could not resolve the conflict. The fact that Nagorno-Karabakh, which is populated by a majority of Armenians, declared itself independent in 1991 was never internationally recognized. However, Armenia secured its independence militarily by occupying seven Azerbaijani provinces – an illegal step from the perspective of international law.

Russia negotiated a new ceasefire

The military conflict in autumn 2020 is one of the largest battles in recent history. Around 6,500 people were killed in the six-week battle. Because Russia mediated, the war was initially settled through a ceasefire agreement, and 2,000 Russian soldiers were sent to Nagorno-Karabakh to keep the peace. For Armenia, the agreement also meant loss of territory. To date there has been no compromise and the dispute remains unresolved. Political scientists therefore speak of a “frozen conflict”.

After the fighting in August and September 2022, Armenian head of state Nikol Pashinyan called on the USA, Russia and France for an “appropriate response from the international community” in a telephone call. A ceasefire was negotiated again under the leadership of Russia. Moscow said it was expected that both sides would stick to the agreement. Turkey, meanwhile, warned Armenia to stop its “provocations” against Azerbaijan and “focus on peace negotiations and cooperation” with Baku.

Numerous people lost their lives in the battle at that time. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan put the number of Armenian soldiers killed at at least 49. Soldiers were also killed on the Azerbaijani side.

Sources: “Politico“, Open Caucasus Media, State Center for Civic Educationwith material from AFP and DPA