Clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan ahead of peace talks

An Azerbaijani checkpoint recently set up at the entrance to the Lachin corridor, the only Armenian-populated land link in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region with an Armenian population with Armenia, via a bridge over the Hakari River, May 2, 2023. AFP - TOFIK BABAYEV

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An Azerbaijani soldier was killed on Thursday (May 11th) in fresh clashes on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a rise in tensions that comes just before talks between their leaders.

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With our correspondent in the region, Régis Genté

An Azerbaijani soldier killed, 4 Armenians wounded... This is the sad record of Thursday's clashes. The sides accused each other of "mortar fire" and "heavy weapons" in the Sotk region of eastern Armenia.

Such bloody incidents have been repeated since the end of Azerbaijan's "second Nagorno-Karabakh war" in autumn 2020. Which, wanting to receive the dividends of its victory, occupies hundreds of hectares of Armenian sovereign territory in order to force Yerevan to fully recognize the membership of Nagorno-Karabakh Azerbaijan, after more than 30 years of conflict.

Call for restraint

This new rise in tensions comes after 4 days of negotiations between foreign ministers in Washington in early May, which were considered encouraging. So much so that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have agreed to meet next Sunday, May 14, this time in Brussels. According to the two leaders, Thursday's clashes do not call into question these upcoming discussions.

For its part, the Kremlin on Thursday called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to "exercise restraint". "We expect both sides to exercise restraint and call on them not to take any action that could lead to a rise in tensions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

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Read on on the same topics:

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Nagorno-Karabakh