© RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev
Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh enters a second day amid international calls for restraint.
Both sides have accused each other of using heavy artillery amid reports of dozens of deaths, including civilians, and hundreds of people being injured.The long-simmering conflict in the volatile South Caucasus erupted into the deadliest bouts of fighting in four years on September 27, threatening to draw in regional powers Russia and Turkey.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared a partial military mobilization on September 28 as Baku said a total of
six Azerbaijani civilians, including five members of one family, had been killed and
19 injured since the fighting began.
Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian separatist enclave inside Azerbaijan, said on September 28 that
two civilians and a total of 32 of its fighters were killed in clashes with Azerbaijani forces a day earlier.
Military officials in Stepanakert and Yerevan said on September 28 that
59 servicemen had been killed and more than 200 wounded since Azerbaijan launched what they described as an air and artillery attack.
Armenia's Defense Ministry said in a statement that "intensive fighting continued overnight."
Comment: Azeri footage of troops using mortars, rockets, and grenade launchers:
Armenia says it is braced for a
long war.
"We are preparing for a long-term war. Why? Because, I say it again, the main player here is not Azerbaijan but Turkey," Vagarshak Harutyunyan, a senior adviser to Armenia's prime minister told a Latvian YouTube channel on Monday.
Turkey, a close partner for Baku but a historical foe for Yerevan, is "directly involved" in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian-populated landlocked enclave within Azerbaijan. Fierce fighting erupted on the disputed region's borders on Sunday, with both Armenian and Azeri troops using heavy weaponry, large-caliber artillery, and combat aircraft in the clashes.
Harutyunyan, formerly Armenia's Defense Minister, spoke of the universal conscription call-up recently issued in his own country as well as Nagorno-Karabakh, indicating that he wasn't convinced the conflict will end any time soon.
The duration of the war will depend on many factors: on how the hostilities will proceed, [and] on the reactions of the international community.
The PM's aide has further criticized Turkey, suggesting it is using Azerbaijan and "push[ing] it towards war in order to achieve its geopolitical goals in this region." Ankara "behaves like a regional terminator, and is practically at war with all of its neighbors," Harutyunyan opined.
Erdogan is calling for an
end to the Armenian occupation of NKR.
Kim Kardashian (ethnic Armenian) chimed in on Twitter, probably reaching many who have never even heard of NKR:
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Comment: Whether it loosens the international fabric or tightens political knots...removal of US troops is long overdue.