{"id":2023,"date":"2020-12-12T17:14:43","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T17:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=138568"},"modified":"2020-12-12T17:14:43","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T17:14:43","slug":"armenia-azerbaijan-trade-accusations-for-nagorno-karabakh-cease-fire-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/12\/armenia-azerbaijan-trade-accusations-for-nagorno-karabakh-cease-fire-violations\/","title":{"rendered":"Armenia, Azerbaijan Trade Accusations For Nagorno-Karabakh Cease-Fire Violations"},"content":{"rendered":"
Armenia has accused Baku of violating a cease-fire agreement in the conflict over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region.<\/p>\n
Armenia\u2019s Defense Ministry said Azerbaijani forces attacked positions held by ethnic Armenian forces, the so-called Karabakh Defense Army, in Nagorno-Karabakh in the southern Hadrut district on December 12.<\/p>\n
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry issued a statement accusing the Armenian military of staging a “provocation” and insisted that the cease-fire agreement was holding.<\/p>\n
Karabakh Defense Army officials said three of its fighters were wounded in clashes on December 11.<\/p>\n
Russian peacekeepers monitoring the cease-fire agreement acknowledged violations in Hadrut on both days, but did not assign blame.<\/p>\n
“Small-arms shooting was recorded in the Hadrut district,” a spokesman for the peacekeeping force told journalists. “Through direct communications lines, the sides were promptly informed of our demand to completely observe the cease-fire regime.”<\/p>\n
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the December 11 incident was a “terrorist attack” committed by “either Armenian gunmen or what is left of the Armenian Army” in Nagorno-Karabakh.<\/p>\n
Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan, but it and some surrounding areas have been de facto controlled by Armenia-backed ethnic Armenian forces for decades. In September, Azerbaijan launched a military campaign that enabled Baku to regain control of large parts of the territory.<\/p>\n
In November, a Russia-brokered cease-fire agreement was reached, and some 2,000 Russian peacekeeping forces have been deployed to the conflict zone.<\/p>\n
Peace talks on the conflict have been coordinated by the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). French co-Chairman Stephane Visconti said in Baku on December 12 that Minsk Group mediators were ready to continue working toward a long-term settlement.<\/p>\n
“We are ready to work on your proposals and look for an acceptable option for the sides,” Visconti told Aliyev.<\/p>\n
Visconti added that the recent developments had produced “an absolutely new situation” in the region, “which could bring about stability.”<\/p>\n