The ceasefire in Karabakh is not observed

1 Nagorno-Karabakh

The spokeswoman of the Armenian Defense Ministry, Shushan Stepanyan, reported on Facebook that on Monday morning, the Azerbaijani troops violated the ceasefire agreement, and shelled the positions of the defense army of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic at the north-eastern part of the frontline. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also reported about an artillery shelling of their troops from the Armenian side on Monday, 5 minutes after the entry into force of the new ceasefire. The artillery shelling of the city of Terter, and villages in the Terter region around Nagorno-Karabakh were reported. On Sunday, the US State Department, Armenia and Azerbaijan jointly announced that the humanitarian ceasefire between Baku and Yerevan will enter into force on 26th of October, at 8 AM. The Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, during a meeting with the US under-secretary of State, Stephen Bigan, on 24th of October, confirmed the commitment of their countries to implement and follow the humanitarian ceasefire, reached in Moscow on 10th of October.

2 Armenia

The spokeswoman of the Armenian Defense Ministry, Shushan Stepanyan, reported on Facebook that Armenia strictly follows the humanitarian ceasefire in Karabakh. «The statements of Azerbaijan that Armenia allegedly violated the humanitarian truce are fake. Those statements are openly provocative» — Shushan Stepanyan stated. According to her — the Armenian Defense Ministry considers the early introduction of clear parameters for observation of the ceasefire, the start of the exchange of PoWs and other detainees, and the exchange of bodies of the dead to be important matters.

3 Nagorno-Karabakh

The State Emergency Service of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic reported on Facebook that Azerbaijan uses their military aviation against the Karabakh city of Martuni. «Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire in peaceful settlements. They used military aircraft against the city of Martuni, thus violating the agreement on a humanitarian ceasefire» — the message reports. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry denied the Yerevan’s statements about the use of military aviation by Baku in Karabakh.

4 Azerbaijan

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in his address to the nation, which was shown on the state TV channel «AzTV», stated that he doesn’t exclude a possibility of using the Turkish F-16 fighters in case of an external aggression against Azerbaijan. According to him — the Turkish fighters arrived in Azerbaijan to participate in the exercises, and they stayed when the war began for the moral support. He added that the Turkish F-16s are on the ground. Ilham Aliyev expressed his opinion that all the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group are aimed at saving Armenia. The President of Azerbaijan added that today «the 3rd ceasefire has already entered into force. However, in a few minutes Armenia violated it by shelling the Terter region». He mentioned that he instructed the Azerbaijani army to »behave with a restraint, and to not succumb to the provocations».

5 Russia

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated during an interview to the ‘Athens-Macedonian News Agency’ that Russia doesn’t approve a military solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. While speaking about the Turkish involvement in the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria and Libya, Sergey Lavrov underlined that the approaches of Moscow and Ankara to resolve a number of controversial regional issues are, due to objective reasons, significantly different. He reminded that the presidents of Russia, France, and the USA, as the chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, spoke in favor of a political settlement. He mentioned that Moscow is convincing Turkey to »use the influence in the interests of supporting such political line of action». Sergei Lavrov added that Moscow calls on «all other countries to do everything possible to prevent a further escalation of the military scenario, to cool down the emotions of the parties, and to work on the creation of the conditions for a restart of the peace process».