YEREVAN, October 13, /ARKA/ Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met October 12 with the heads of foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations accredited in the Republic of Armenia to provide them with the details of the hostilities launched by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh, highlighting Turkey’s direct involvement in them, the government press office reported.
Pashinyan said this war would not have started had there not been full readiness shown by and full engagement of Turkey. ‘Turkey’s engagement in and encouragements of the war, I believe, is public, it is happening publicly,’ he said.
Pashinyan said the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone is very close to a humanitarian crisis or perhaps it is already facing a humanitarian crisis.
‘Our assessment is that this humanitarian crisis can be prevented in only one effective way: if the international community officially acknowledges the aforementioned facts and eventually recognizes the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination, to the point of even recognizing the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh,’ Pashinyan said.
“We expect the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing nations to continue their efforts. We are prepared to be constructive in this process. But we think that the resumption of the negotiation process should take place in accordance with the logic formulated in the Moscow statement,” Nikol Pashinyan emphasized.
On September 27th the Azerbaijani military launched a large-scale offensive against the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) using missiles, artillery and suicide drones against civilian populations in Artsakh’s capital Stepanakert as well as other civilian populations in and around Artsakh, as well as against certain areas of the Republic of Armenia’s town of Vardenis, causing death and injury to dozens of civilians.
According to official Armenian sources, more than 5000 Azerbaijani soldiers have been killed in the heavy fighting since September 27 and more than 5,000 have been wounded. Armenian troops have destroyed 512 tanks and armored vehicles, 4 MLRS Smerch and Uragan, 4 MLRS TOS-1A, 146 UAVs, 16 helicopters and 18 aircraft.
According to the defense ministries of Armenia and Artsakh, about 500 Armenian servicemen have been killed and several hundred have been wounded. As a result of war crimes committed by Azerbaijan, 31 civilians have been killed and over 100 wounded.
Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a Russia-brokered cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting at 12 pm October 10 after 10 hours of talks in Moscow sponsored by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The parties reaffirmed their commitment to the humanitarian ceasefire for the exchange of prisoners of war and the bodies of those killed through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement October 10 evening that violating its own commitment, Azerbaijan continued military operations in various sectors of the frontline, firing also at settlements of the Syunik region of Armenia.