“There are three crucial points, which I’d like to stress. The first one, Erdoğan will never recognize rights of Kurds, vivid evidence to which was overturning of initiated peaceful process, which was inspiring hope for the issue settlement. The second one, Abdullah Öcalan has been in powerful, inhuman isolation, for about a year, from last April, nobody visited him, and this is another issue, that pushes for tension. The third one, Turkey’s authorities, in particular, power structures, have blockaded Kurdish-populated cities, like Jzir, Nsedi, Shrnak, Kote, Dilja and, surely, among the most important ones, Sur district in Diyarbakir, where Armenian serious cultural heritage is available as well.”
World famous rock musician, Armenian Serj Tankian commented on the military operations on the line of contact of Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan, which were unleashed by Azerbaijan. Tankian in particular wrote on his Facebook page : “There seem to be 3 developments this week on the Nagorno Karabakh resolution effort that have led to what seem to be a very distributing all out war on the border of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan”.
They tell that Tartar’s dwellers left the settlement because of the heated fights and moved to other cities. According to them, shooting started at 03: 30 and continued until morning.
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms the large-scale ceasefire violations along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact, which have resulted in a number of reported casualties, including civilians. We extend our condolences to all affected families. We urge the sides to show restraint, avoid further escalation, and strictly adhere to the ceasefire. The unstable situation on the ground demonstrates why the sides must enter into an immediate negotiation under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on a comprehensive settlement of the conflict.
The statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said the UN chief is particularly concerned by the reported use of heavy weapons and by the large numbers of casualties, including among the civilian population.
During the military operations 2 soldiers were wounded from the Karabakh side. The Nagorno Karabakh forces conduct successful military operations in the southern part of the frontline also. By withstanding the enemy’s artillery and rocket attacks, the Defense Army units destroyed 2 enemy tanks and 1 battle vehicle. Details and developments will be reported in upcoming press releases.
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Pedro Agramunt called on the Nagorno Karabakh conflicting sides to respect the ceasefire and resume negotiations. As reports Agramunt expressed deep concern over the violence and escalation in the Nagorno Karabakh contact line.
“In his speeches, president Ilham Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan was for peaceful settlement of NK conflict, however, if this conflict wasn’t settled, they’d apply force to liberate our territories from occupation.”
While details of the latest deadly escalation are emerging, it is worth mentioning that satellite imagery available to independent international security analysts has shown that in the last six months the Azeri military have been amassing military hardware and conducting military drills along the Agdam, Fizuli and Djabrayil regions controlled by the Nagorno Karabakh, in the southern and south-eastern parts of the NK. Today’s reports from Azerbaijan and Armenia confirmed that these regions were seeing the heaviest fighting. This implies premeditation on behalf of Azeri forces, contrary to the Azeri official statements claiming that the assault on 2 April was a simple response to the Armenian alleged shootings.
The dangerous aspect to this is that, once begun, any military operations in this conflict zone can easily escalate and get out of control. An unpredictable conflict environment combines with a tough macho political culture where it is seen as a sign of weakness to compromise. And, as the Prussian general Helmuth von Moltke said, “No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.”
