Azerbaijan sent new units of its soldiers to the Armenian-occupied Karabakh region, amid stalled diplomatic efforts to settle the crisis and the fragility of the truce that was reached in Moscow last Friday.

The Azerbaijani soldiers, who are sent to the battle fronts, enjoy official and popular interaction, amid clear enthusiasm among the citizens who hope to restore their occupied lands and the end of the three-decade-old conflict.

This comes despite the fragile truce that was agreed upon 3 days ago in Moscow, and aims to allow the two parties to exchange prisoners and the remains of the dead who fell in continuous fighting two weeks ago.

Azerbaijan and Armenia exchange accusations about launching new attacks in and around Nagorny Karabakh, which increases pressure on the truce, and threatens the return of violent fighting in the region.

Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of violating the armistice, after less than 24 hours, by bombing the Azerbaijani city of Ganja with missiles, killing 9 civilians and wounding 34 others.

Ghazanfar Akhmetov, director of the National Agency for Land Clearance of Azerbaijan, said that the missile that targeted the civilian area in the city of Ganja was a medium-range ballistic "Elbrus".

He explained, in a press statement to representatives of foreign diplomatic missions in the country, on Monday, that the information - obtained after examining the remnants of the missile - shows that the attack was carried out with a medium-range ballistic missile, Elbrus.

On the other hand, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Armenia of endangering the security of energy supplies in Europe through its attack on the Azerbaijani Ganga, after its attack on the Tovuz region located on the lines and pipelines of natural gas and oil.

The Turkish President called on the European Union to take a firm stance on the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in this context.

Mediator knot ... and the Turkish role


On the other hand, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the Minsk group, which was formed to mediate in the conflict led by France, Russia and the United States, is biased, and that Ankara should participate in the solution process.

Aliyev described Turkey as a global power due to its role in Syria, Libya and other international conflicts.

"Turkey is also a member of the Minsk Group, why not be among the participating leaders? Even if many Western countries do not want to accept this, Turkey's word is big and it is completely independent."

However, the Russian position - from Turkey's addition to the three mediators of the Minsk Group (Russia, the United States, and France) appeared conservative, as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that there is no plan to change the way the talks and to include Turkey in them.

Despite this, it is clear that consultations between Russia and Turkey on the issue of the region are continuing, through the frequent contacts between officials of the two countries regarding the crisis in the region.

Followers say that the Turkish role cannot be bypassed, especially with the close relationship that ties it to Azerbaijan, and with the latter's insistence on Ankara's presence at any negotiation table on the region's future.

For their part, the Europeans called on Ankara to make more efforts to stabilize the ceasefire in the region.

Ahead of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Berlin, Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, urged Turkey to do more to end the latest outbreak of the decades-old conflict.

"I think the message from Luxembourg will be a call to Turkey, a member of NATO, to help urgently in arranging a ceasefire," Asselborn said.

Sharing accusations


With the increase in violations of the armistice, the two sides exchange accusations of responsibility for this.

As the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan said that Armenian forces have repeatedly tried to attack their positions around the regions of Igdir-Aghdam and Fuzuli-Gabriel, and that they continue to bomb lands in Goranboy, Tatar, and Aghdam in Azerbaijan.

At a time, the Armenian forces confirmed that they had inflicted losses on the Azerbaijani forces, and that large-scale military operations were continuing in the Hadrut region of the mountainous region.

On Monday, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense announced the destruction of 3 Armenian army drones, in response to the recent violation of the armistice.

Two drones of the Armenian army were shot down during their flight over the city of Tovuz, according to a statement by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense, which added that the third drone was shot down on the front line in the city of Agdam.

War crimes


On the other hand, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters yesterday, after his participation in the opening of the new academic year of the Military Academy in Ankara, that Armenia will one day pay the price in front of history and international law for targeting civilians in Azerbaijan.

He stressed that his country closely follows developments in Azerbaijan, adding that "Armenia is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and does not respect international law."

The Defense Ministry revealed that the minister told his Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoygu, in a phone call, on Monday, that Armenian forces should immediately withdraw from the Azerbaijani lands they occupy and stop attacks on civilians.

In a statement issued after the call, she added that Azerbaijan will not wait another 30 years to resolve the conflict, and that Turkey supports Baku's attack "to regain its occupied lands."

For his part, the President of Azerbaijan reiterated his call to Turkey - which has shown strong support for his country since the start of the fighting - to participate in peacemaking.

France, Russia and the United States have been leading the mediation efforts for years.

"The word Turkey is big, and it is completely independent even if many Western countries do not want to accept that," Aliyev said.

A Russian-Armenian


meeting. The Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakyanian met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, and accused Azerbaijan of working to increase Turkey's influence in the region and using mercenaries loyal to Ankara, which denies these accusations.

"We want a ceasefire, we want a verification mechanism on the ground that identifies the violator and shows the party that is not committed to the ceasefire," Manatsakyanian said, accusing Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire.

The Armenian official stated that Azerbaijan is not committed to the ceasefire in Karabakh and is bringing in Syrian mercenaries.

Lavrov returned to state that his meeting with his Armenian counterpart would enhance joint cooperation, adding that he had conveyed the Armenian Prime Minister's complaints about the violation of the ceasefire to the Minsk Group.

On the European position, and before a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Berlin, the Luxembourg Foreign Minister urged Turkey to do more to end the latest outbreak of the conflict that began decades ago.