The world tries to bring the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to a halt

Joanne Sam

1 November 2020

Civilians are forced to flee as Armenian and Azerbaijani troops continue attacks over the dispute of control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region’s mountain enclave, which officially falls under Azerbaijani administration but has an ethnic Armenian majority.

On Saturday, shelling on both sides ensued the agreement to diffuse the conflict—potentially the fourth truce since September. The meeting between the countries’ foreign ministers—ZohrabMnatsakanyan and Jeyhun Aziz Oglu Bayramov and envoys from France, USA, and Russia was held in Geneva. Just as the decision for a ceasefire was made, the ministers were informed that many in Shushi, Armenia were affected. The Nagorno-Karabakh Emergency and Rescue Service said that there were several civilian casualties in the enclave’s largest city, Stepanakert. The defence ministry of Azerbaijan denied these claims as well as those of them burning parts of the city. Similar to the previous three decisions, the ceasefire failed within a few hours.

Few civilians killed and many injured during the shelling on Saturday, 31st October 2020(Source: DW)

NATO, USA, Iran, and Russia have repeatedly called for a ceasefire asking the countries to end the dispute. However, with a Christian majority, Armenia convinced Russia to lend their supplies and support to them in case the war goes further. On the other hand, Azerbaijan, a country with a Muslim majority has close — economic, military, cultural, and linguistic ties with Turkey.

These clashes have been ongoing for the past three decades and have seen a rise in attacks and deaths in the past month. Armenia has been attempting to guarantee the security of the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh according to their ‘right to self-determination’ without being indifferent to any individual compatriot due to their faith. Azerbaijan refuses to give up the control and administration of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was given to them by the Soviet Union after the ceasefire in 1994.

The current month-long conflict has claimed twelve thousand lives and injured thousands. However the actual number of deaths is said to be substantially higher with many unaccounted for. Both countries stand firm in their beliefs and do not want to go back on their word, but they wish to take on a peaceful approach to solving this conflict, keeping their citizens’ security as their priority.

(Sources- CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC, DW)

Edited by- Hithesh Jain