Top diplomats of Armenia, Azerbaijan reaffirm commitment to truce in Karabakh

MOSCOW, October 10. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks by phone with Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts, Jeyhun Bayramov and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, on Saturday, and in the phone calls both Baku and Yerevan reaffirmed their commitment to ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "In the conversations, the sides reaffirmed their commitment to the agreements on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, achieved at the consultations of the three countries’ foreign ministers in Moscow on October 9, and emphasized the necessity of strict compliance with it [the ceasefire] on the ground," the Russian Foreign Ministry reported. Despite the declared commitments, both sides reported military incidents in the conflict zone. Hostilities continue The town of Terter in Nagorno-Karabakh was shelled late on Saturday by Armenian forces, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan said. "Starting from 22:30 [local time, 21:30 Moscow time] the armed forces of Armenia have been shelling the city of Terter in blatant breach of the humanitarian ceasefire," the ministry said in a statement. In turn, Armenian Defense Ministry Representative Artsrun Hovhannisyan said late on Saturday that the armed forces of Azerbaijan launched a missile attack at several populated areas in Nagorno-Karabakh . "At present, the enemy is carrying out missile strikes at the towns of Martuni, Shusha and other populated areas," Hovhannisyan said in a Facebook post. According to a TASS correspondent in Stepanakert, the capital of the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh was shelled on Saturday evening for the first time since a ceasefire in the region was declared at 11:00 Moscow time. Over 15 explosions and sounds of air raid sirens were heard in the city. Some of those blasts occurred in the nearby town of Shusha. At the ten-hour talks, brokered by Russia and held in Moscow on October 9, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed a ceasefire. It came into effect at 12.00 local time on Saturday, October 10 for humanitarian reasons, for the exchange of detainees and recovery of the bodies of those killed in fighting. Baku and Yerevan agreed to enter into substantive peace talks under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group to seek peace for Nagorno-Karabakh. The sides confirmed their pledge to maintain the current format of negotiations. Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States. Read more