Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Azerbaijan says no end to fight until Armenia withdraws troops

Amid the rising tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan’s President, on October 4, said that the country will not cease military action until Armenia withdraws its troops from the disputed region. The two former Soviet republics have been locked in a simmering conflict for decades over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is an ethnic Armenian enclave with Azerbaijan. In a televised address to the nation, Ilham Aliyev said that Azeri forces were advancing in a week-long offensive to retake lands that they lost to ethnic Armenians in the 1990s. 

Aliyev said, “Azerbaijan has one condition, and that is the liberation of its territories. Nagorno-Karabakh is the territory of Azerbaijan. We must return and we shall return. My condition is the following: let them withdraw their troops, and the confrontation will be stopped, but this should not be in words, but in deeds”. 

READ: Armenia Detains Foreign Citizens On Suspicion Of Espionage Amid Tensions With Azerbaijan

The Azeri President said that the international community had failed for three decades to enforce UN resolutions or put pressure on Armenia to return Azeri territories. His message made clear that Azerbaijan would not entertain calls for an immediate ceasefire that countries including Russia, the United States and European Union have urged. 

Aliyev said, “Azerbaijan has one condition, and that is the liberation of its territories”. He added, “Nagorno-Karabakh is the territory of Azerbaijan. We must return and we shall return”. 

Meanwhile, on October 2, Armenia had said that it is prepared to work with international mediators to reach a ceasefire with Azerbaijan. The Armenian foreign ministry, in a statement, said that the country ‘stands ready’ to engage with France, Russia and the US in a bid to ‘re-establish ceasefire regime’. However, the officials also added that the aggression against the disputed region will continue to receive their ‘strong and resolute response’. 

READ: Georgia Urges Armenia, Azerbaijan To Start Dialogue

Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict 

The new fight, which erupted on September 27, is considered to be the heaviest in decades. Hundreds of people have been killed in the past week, including over 40 civilians. The fight between the two countries has raised international concern about stability in the South Caucasus, where pipelines carry Azeri oil and gas to world markets. 

With fears of the clashes expanding into an all-out, multi-front war, there is a possibility that the fighting could also stuck in regional powers Turkey and Russia. While Ankara is Azerbaijan’s strongest supporter, Moscow, on the other hand, has a military base in Armenia. Earlier, Armenia even accused Turkey of supplying fighters to the conflict, drawing them out of northern-Syria. 

READ: Azerbaijan Claims Village Seizure In Fighting With Armenia

READ: Armenia Calls On Media Outlets To Stop Broadcasting Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Live