More deadly fighting raged Monday, September 28 between Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Since Sunday, the forces of the separatist enclave, supported politically, militarily and economically by Armenia, and those of Azerbaijan clash in the deadliest fighting since 2016.
On Monday evening, the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities announced that 26 more Armenian separatists had been killed in clashes with Azerbaijani forces.
Earlier, the spokesman of the Armenian Ministry of Defense, reported a "massive" offensive of Azerbaijani forces on the southern and northeastern flanks of the front line.
The balance sheet, incomplete, was therefore established Monday evening at 95 dead, including 11 civilians: nine in Azerbaijan and two on the Armenian side.
The real toll could be much heavier, with both camps each claiming to have killed hundreds of enemy soldiers.
Azerbaijan, a Turkish-speaking country with a Shiite majority, calls for the return to its control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous province populated mainly by Armenians, Christians, whose secession in 1991 was not recognized by the international community.
Open war between Yerevan and Baku would risk destabilizing the South Caucasus, especially if regional powers Turkey and Russia intervene.
However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday called on Armenia to end what he described as "occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh".
"Turkey will continue to stand alongside the brotherly and friendly country Azerbaijan with all our heart and by all means," he said, encouraging Baku to "take matters into its own hands".
Security Council meeting
The other powers - Russia, the United States, France, Iran, the EU, the UN - have called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
The UN Security Council is due to meet urgently Tuesday at 9 p.m. GMT, behind closed doors, to discuss the situation.
A declaration could be issued at the end of the meeting, either by the Security Council or by the European members of the body if a consensus is not found with the other partners.
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh denounce Turkish "interference", accusing Ankara of providing arms, "military specialists", drone pilots and planes to Baku.
Yerevan also claimed that Ankara had deployed thousands of "mercenaries" transferred from Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), for its part, estimated that Turkey had transferred from Syrian territory more than 300 combatants to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry rejected the accusations, saying instead that "ethnically Armenian mercenaries" from the Middle East were fighting on the separatist side.
Armenian Ambassador to Russia Vardan Toganyan told Russian news agency Ria Novosti that his country would not hesitate to use Iskander ballistic missiles provided by Moscow if Ankara were to mobilize the Turkish F-16s in this conflict.
With AFP
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