Published 19:06 IST, November 14th 2020
Armenia Ministry says 2,317 servicemen dead in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
"To date, our forensic service has examined the corpses of 2,317 dead servicemen, including unidentified ones," Armenian health ministry spokeswoman said
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Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia on November 14 said that at least 2,317 servicemen are dead in six weeks of clashes with Azerbaijan armed forces in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. "To date, our forensic service has examined the corpses of 2,317 dead servicemen, including unidentified ones," Armenian health ministry spokeswoman Alina Nikoghosyan said in a statement. The casualties surged from nearly 1,000 previous deaths of Armenian soldiers confirmed by the ministry. “On behalf of all the staff of the Ministry of Health, we express our condolences to all the lost mothers, fathers and their relatives,” Nikoghosyan said. Azerbaijan's defense ministry is yet to disclose military casualties.
Meanwhile, the villagers in Charektar on the border with the neighbouring district of Martakert scorched houses ahead of the Azerbaijan army takeover. Huge flames erupted outside of Nagorno-Karabakh as civilians fled their homes to escape to Armenia before the land was conquered by Azerbaijan as part of peace negotiations. Unwilling to hand over the territory to the Turks, civilians launched a mass exodus setting fire, sending properties into thick plumes of smoke as they evacuated. As many as 10 homes in Charitar were torched as the agreement to return Armenian territory as al-Baggar was negotiated, as well as the Agdam region by 20 November, and the Lachin region by December 1 occupied by the Armenians since 1990s conflict, according to sources of Anadolu Agency.
While Since we already reported that they doing it. Now you can see it by your own eyes.
— Tahseen Khan✍🏻 (@BalochKhan3) November 12, 2020
Village of Dadivank in Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is due to be handed over to Azerbaijan in two days. Many locals were burning their homes so that they may not fall in Azerbaijani Hands. pic.twitter.com/xNIYBlTKpY
Azerbaijani President hails 'victory'
In accordance with the pact brokered between the ex-Soviet rivals to end hostilities, Russian military officials dispatched the Russian peacekeepers and observers to station at the Nagorno-Karabakh disputed territory. Nearly 2,000 troops were to be deployed at 16 observation posts in mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor, as per sources Associated Press. However, the terms of a cease-fire agreement that gave territorial concessions to Azerbaijan was protested by thousands that flooded Armenia’s capital.
Civilians stormed into government buildings and demanded that the Moscow-brokered agreement be invalidated and the control must be handed over to ethnic Armenian forces. Meanwhile, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hailed the agreement as a "victory" for his country and a "defeat of Armenia”, acknowledging Baku's military. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, on the other hand, called the truce "unspeakably painful”.
[Still from footage provided by Russian Defense Ministry press service on in Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020 shows Russian peacekeepers taking on a board of military planes in an unknown place in Russia. Scores of Russian peacekeepers were heading to Nagorno-Karabakh. Credit: AP]
[Russian military planes with peacekeepers on boards after landing at Erebuni Airport outside Yerevan, Armenia. Credit: AP]
[Armenian and Russian soldiers search the site of wreckage of a downed Russian military helicopter which was shot down in Armenia near the border with Azerbaijan, near Eraskh, Armenia. Credit: AP]
Calling the Nagorno-Karabakh deal signed by Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan an “important” gain, Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter, “Brotherly Azerbaijan has achieved an important gain on the battleground and table. I sincerely congratulate this sacred success.” “We will continue to be one nation, one spirit with our Azeri brothers,” he added. Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that it was in talks with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees office, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the UN development programme to address the civilian casualties and humanitarian crisis from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
(Images Credit: AP)
19:06 IST, November 14th 2020