Nagorno-Karabakh: "The only solution is the withdrawal of the Armenian army"

Fighting continues for the sixth consecutive day in Nagorno-Karabakh.

AFP / Azerbaijani Defense Ministry / Handout

Text by: Véronique Gaymard Follow

8 min

As the fighting continues in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani Ambassador to France HE Rahman Mustafayev says only a withdrawal of Armenian troops from this separatist enclave would allow a ceasefire.

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The fighting continues in

with great intensity.

Many fear that the conflict will engulf the entire region.

Thursday, October 1, the leaders of the countries of the Minsk group (Russia, France, United States) called on the two parties, Armenia and Azerbaijan, for an immediate ceasefire.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once again called on the two countries on Friday for " 

 ".

Yerevan has hinted at the possibility of committing

under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

For its part, Azerbaijan calls first for an unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh.

This Friday evening, France offered its mediation.

RFI:

Rahman Mustafayev:

It's a real war.

Since July, the Armenian army has been making persistent provocations in the official border lines as well as in the contact line in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan.

Since July, the international community has not reacted.

So maybe Armenia felt free to go. 

Today, there is fighting, there is war in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and seven regions around which have been occupied since 1993. There are four Security Council (UN) resolutions that have were adopted in 1993. France, as a member country of the Security Council and a member of the OSCE, has voted four times in favor of these resolutions.

The articles of these resolutions say that in the first place there must be the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian armed forces which occupy the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven regions around Nagorno-Karabakh. 

We appreciate the calls and the goodwill of the countries of the international community and of course in the first place of the co-presidents of the Minsk group, of the three countries United States, Russia and France, to contribute to the resolution of this conflict.

But you also need to understand Azerbaijan's position.

This conflict has been going on for more than 33 years now and we see no positive results from these talks. 

That is, it is a frozen conflict.

But what is Azerbaijan asking for an immediate ceasefire? 

It's not a frozen conflict, actually.

Because every month, every week, every day, there are losses among Azerbaijani civilians.

There are destroyed houses and villages.

There are even children who suffer from this war.

There are Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons, over 700,000 Azerbaijanis who have been driven from the occupied areas. 

So in order to sit down around the negotiating table, to start looking for solutions, we must first apply the provisions of the Security Council resolutions.

First thing: the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the armed troops occupying the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven neighboring regions around Nagorno-Karabakh.

Rahman Mustafayev, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to France RFI / Véronique Gaymard

The conflict is extremely violent.

Thursday especially with air attacks, rockets which did a lot of damage.

French journalists elsewhere were injured, including one seriously.

What can you say about the intensity of these fights?

It is now a very modern war with potentially greater losses than 30 years ago?

I agree with you, it's really modern warfare today.

The two parties to the conflict, Azerbaijani and Armenian, use heavy weapons: artillery, planes… But we can stop this war, we can rely on the provisions of international law.

This is what we are asking for. 

There is also talk of the deployment of mercenaries, auxiliaries from the North of Syria who would be transported via Turkey to Azerbaijan.

Moscow says it is very concerned, France says it has proof of these displacements.

How does Azerbaijan respond?

First of all, we strongly reject all these allegations and accusations against Azerbaijan.

Remember, this is a war, and every war has its laws and rules.

There are military fights in the battlefields, but there is also computer warfare, in the media, therefore ideological and psychological.

I think Armenia knows that it has lost territories and villages.

Armenia suffers very heavy losses, it is about hundreds, thousands of soldiers who were killed in the fighting.

Armenia is trying today to criticize us, to use its ideological and computer resources… We suggest to France, to the French intelligence services, to meet with us, to cross-check information with Azerbaijan to find the signs of these mercenaries.

So our proposal is open. 

Azerbaijan also enjoys Turkish support, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly supported Azerbaijan.

Is a resolution of the conflict possible without Turkey and Russia? 

Turkish President Erdogan is not doing anything that goes beyond the limits of international law.

He spoke in favor of Azerbaijan, it is an important moral support for us.

We have had a strategic partnership treaty with Turkey since 2010. Article 2 says that if Azerbaijan becomes the object of external aggression, Turkey will come to support us.

Until now, we have not needed this support, because the army of Azerbaijan is capable and efficient.

And does Azerbaijan have military support from Turkey?

Currently, we have a partnership in the military sector with Russia, with Belarus, with countries like Israel, and of course with Turkey, we do not hide it.

But all this takes place within the framework of international law.

There is no country more interested in making peace than Azerbaijan.

Our logic is peaceful coexistence.

Azerbaijan is a secular, tolerant country, where several religious and ethnic minorities live.

The only thing we are proposing is the application of the provisions of international law.

And I call on the French leaders today: you can stop this war.

You have already voted four resolutions (in the Security Council), so you must push the Armenian leaders to make them understand that the only solution to stop this war is really to respect international law.

There is no other solution. 

Our fellow journalists from

I listened to and read the information about these facts with great regret because for us the lives of journalists are very important.

First, we had no information on the movements of these journalists.

You have to follow the rules and the procedure.

So if you go to the war region, where there is fighting, you must understand that the separatist regime cannot guarantee the safety of journalists.

We must officially call the Azerbaijani authorities who will organize the trip.

This is how we can ensure the safety and lives of journalists.

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