• Nagorno Karabakh, the "frozen war" between Armenia and Azerbaijan is revived - Video

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April 03, 2016It was not since 1994 that there have been such violent clashes in Nagorno Karabakh, the region of Azerbaijan disputed by neighboring Armenia. According to unverified local sources, there are dozens of deaths among the soldiers of the two opposing armed forces, even if an official toll is difficult to establish.



Armenians shoot down Azerbaijani helicopter


Dozens of people were reportedly killed in fighting yesterday after the Armenian army reported shooting down an Azerbaijani helicopter, claiming it threatened to enter Nagorno Karabakh territory. But the situation is constantly changing.




Nagorno Karabakh: an enclave, many tensions and a war with 30,000 dead


Nagorno Karabakh is located in Azerbaijan but is controlled by Armenians, and it is Armenia itself that has supported the territory at a military and economic level since the separatist war ended in 1994. The area has been disputed by the two countries since 1988. Between that year and 1994 more than 30 thousand people were killed, while now the international community considers the region as part of Azerbaijan. Since the end of the war, negotiations have been underway promoted by the Minsk Group (created by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - OSCE - to monitor the ceasefire, led by France, Russia and the United States).




UN appeal for ceasefire compliance


United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-Moon urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to respect the ceasefire in Nagorno Karabakh, avoiding an escalation of the conflict for control of the territory whose sovereignty has been disputed by the two countries since 1988. Ban, a note reads, "is deeply concerned about recent reports of large-scale violations of the ceasefire" declared in 1994, following the separatist war, and is " particularly alarmed by the reported use of heavy weapons and the high number of casualties, including civilians ". 



Call for calm also from Moscow and Washington


Russia and the United States also intervened in the Nagorno Karabakh crisis, calling on Yerevan and Baku to refrain from further actions that could lead to an escalation of the conflict. Several appeals for tensions have come from the international community, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country is a key mediator. The issue of escalation in the enclave, where skirmishes are frequent, was addressed in Washington by the Armenian president, Serz Sargsyan, with the US Secretary of State John Kerry. The Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliev, has meanwhile insisted that Baku does not give up on recovering Nagorno Karabakh by force. The clashes raise concerns about the spread of the conflict in the region, crossed by oil and gas pipelines.