Azerbaijan’s military says the country’s forces have killed 2,300 Armenian soldiers since fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh began four days ago.
Fighting over the disputed region is threatening to spill into all-out war. Turkey has expressed its intention to help its ally, Azerbaijan, in any way necessary, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered Armenia military assistance which it’s denied to receive at the moment but hasn’t ruled out.
Both sides previously engaged in a decade long war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is currently governed by Armenian separatists, since breaking off from Azerbaijan in the late 1980s.
The first round of fighting came to an end in 1994 following a ceasefire brokered by Russia, France, and the U.S. By the time the war ended, 20,000 people died and 1 million were displaced.
Decades later, fighting broke out again--once in 2015 and the other in 2016's Four-Day-War which led to the death of 100 soldiers.
Despite the 1994 ceasefire, Azerbaijan has always maintained its claim over Nagorno-Karabakh and has received international support on the issue.
The international community has continued to urge both warring sides to drop arms and head to the negotiation table and broker a ceasefire and a long-lasting peace treaty.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have ruled out any possibility for peace talks, saying current conditions won't permit.
By: Niza Nondo
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