Azerbaijan vows Armenia to respond and destroy military targets
Azerbaijan said yesterday that Armenian forces fired missiles at Kanja, its second largest city, killing a civilian and wounding four, and it also vowed to respond and destroy military targets inside Armenia.
This development constitutes a sharp escalation of the war that broke out a week ago in the South Caucasus region.
So far, the main battles are taking place between Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh, which is an enclave inhabited and managed by Armenians inside Azerbaijan, but the fighting has become a foretaste of turning into a direct war with Armenia.
"Azerbaijan will destroy direct military targets inside Armenia, from which the bombing of our population centers will be launched," Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan Hikmat Hajiyev said.
He pointed to civilian casualties in another region in the country, which is Bilqan, bordering Nagorny Karabakh.
Armenia denied directing fire "of any kind" towards Azerbaijan, but the leader of the Nagorno-Karabakh region said that his forces targeted a military air base in Ganja, but that they stopped firing later to avoid civilian casualties.
The conflict runs the risk of attracting other powers, as Turkey supports Azerbaijan while Armenia concludes a defense treaty with Russia.
"The Armenian attacks that targeted civilians in Ganja ... a new expression of Armenia's illegal behavior," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
We condemn these attacks ».
The intensity of the fighting, which broke out a week ago, between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces escalated over the past two days and spread outside the region.
Kenga is inhabited by about 335,000 people, about 100 km north of Khankendi, the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, and 80 km from the Armenian city of Wardenis.
Azerbaijan was accused by Armenia of bombing its lands from Wardenas, which Yerevan denied.
Armenia says that Azerbaijan has used the airport in Ganja as a base for its warplanes to launch bombing campaigns on Nagorny Karabakh.
The leader of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Aryk Harutyunyan, said that his forces would target the cities of Azerbaijan.
"Military units located in major cities in Azerbaijan have become targets from now on," he added.
The battles during the past week resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries, but it is not possible to know the exact number of victims.
Armenia said that the cities of Khankendi and Martakert in Nagorny Karabakh are under attack from the air forces of Azerbaijan and bombing with long-range missiles.
The two sides exchange accusations of targeting civilians.
The two sides ignored appeals from Russia, the United States, France and the European Union for a ceasefire, and intensified hostilities over the weekend, as statements escalated.
Follow our latest local and sports news, and the latest political and economic developments via Google news