According to authorities in this separatist region disputed by Armenia and Azerbaijan, four Armenian soldiers were killed by Azerbaijani fire in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday, while Baku and Yerevan seek a settlement under the auspices of the United States.
“Units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire overnight with artillery and drones on Armenian positions” in Martouni and Martakert districts, the separatists’ “Defence Ministry” said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday.
“Four soldiers were killed as a result of this new provocation by Azerbaijan,” the same source said.
The day before, it was the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry that accused “illegitimately armed Armenian detachments on the territory of Azerbaijan (…)” of opening fire on the positions of the Azerbaijani army in the “Aghdam” region, injuring one Azerbaijani soldier.
The violence comes as new negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan aimed at resolving the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh have been taking place in Washington since Tuesday.
The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, therefore met separately with his Armenian counterparts Ararat Mirzoïan and Azerbaijani Djeyhoun Baïramov on Tuesday before bringing them together.
The talks will take place behind closed doors and are expected to last until Thursday.
“We continue to believe that peace is within reach and that direct dialogue is the key to resolving outstanding issues and achieving a lasting and dignified peace,” the Defense Ministry spokesman said on Monday. “State, Matthew Miller.
The USA had already brought the two ministers together in Washington at the beginning of May. Talks have also taken place in Brussels and Moscow in recent weeks.
“ethnic cleansing”
Since December, Yerevan has accused Baku of impeding supplies to the breakaway Karabakh region by blocking an important route, the Lachin Corridor, and thus causing bottlenecks.
In mid-June, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Baku of pursuing a policy of “ethnic cleansing” in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is predominantly inhabited by Armenians.
Baku defends the establishment of a checkpoint citing security reasons and reiterates that civilian traffic can travel freely through the Lachin Corridor.
But the Armenian branch of the Red Cross last week accused Azerbaijan of blocking access to Nagorno-Karabakh amid growing concerns over the humanitarian situation there.
Azerbaijani and Armenian separatists, supported militarily by Yerevan, clashed in two wars, one at the breakup of the USSR, the other in the fall of 2020.
During the first attack, which killed 30,000 people, the separatists took control of Nagorno-Karabakh and the buffer zones around that mountainous area.
During the second conflict, which claimed 6,500 lives, Azerbaijan took over these buffer zones and much of Nagorno-Karabakh.
A ceasefire signed under the auspices of Moscow has been followed by the deployment of a contingent of Russian peacekeepers, but tensions remain high and negotiations to sign a peace treaty are stalled.