Nagorno Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan gave his first press conference following the resumption of an armed conflict in Nagorno Karabagh.
Sahakyan said that the NKR Defense Army is undertaking a number of measures, taking into consideration Azerbaijan’s behavior in recent years, and if Azerbaijan continues to violate the ceasefire regime, Armenian forces will respond accordingly…”We are not fighting for territory. We are fighting for our homeland,” said Sahakyan. He also reconfirmed NKR’s commitment to the peace process.
At the end of the press briefing, Sahakian extended his condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers and expressed regret that given the situation, it had not been possible for him to take part in the funeral services.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Yerevan today on an official visit. Following his meeting with the Armenian Prime Minister, Medvedov announced that Russia is committed to act as an active mediator to the NK conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group format. More than 10 cultural and and economic agreements will be signed between Russia and Armenia following this official visit, including one regarding the decrease of Russian gas prices sold to Armenia.To the reporter’s question if they had discussed Russian’s sale of arms to Azerbaijan, the Armenian Prime Minister replied saying that is Azerbaijan has the capacity to purchase military equipment, it will do so regardless of where it comes from, if not Russia than Turkey.
17:10 – According to the Kremlin, the situation in Nagorno Karabakh is far from being stable. Kremline spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that “a setback has occurred.” “Very good progress was made before the resumption of heated clashes. Now, unfortunately, a setback occurred, and there’s a lot of catching up that will need to be done,” said Dmitry Peskov.
16:40- NKR National Assembly’s “Homeland”, “Democracy”, “Federation”, “88” and “Renaissance” factions issued a joint statement in which they are calling on international organizations for a clear legal and political assessment carried out in recent days regarding the terrorist activities of Azerbaijan and to take specific steps to deter aggression of Azerbaijan.
Full statement below:
In the morning of April 2, Azerbaijan launched a large scale attack against NKR at the Karabakh-Azerbaijan border. Azerbaijan has been violating the trilateral agreement of the ceasefire since it was signed in May of 1994.
In previous years, the lack of action against Baku of international organizations for violating the ceasefire multiple times led to the escalation of the conflict and the eventual use of banned weapons, heavy shelling, bombing of villages, and brutal violence against civilians.
We, as factions of the NKR National Assembly deputies, and as elected representatives by the people, condemn the aggression unleashed on the peaceful population of Artsakh,
-Reaffirm that a supporter of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, the major issue for the Republic of Artsakh has been and remains the security of its people, which was in danger as a result of Azerbaijan’s attacks in the recent days,
-Consider that Azerbaijan by initiating this new military operation phase against the people of Artsakh shows that them along with their supporters are making the South Caucasus a new location of international terrorism, which poses a threat to the security of the region.
-Appreciate the provisions of security for the country and its people initiated by the decisive actions of the NKR Defense Army.
-We call on all international organizations and especially the OSCE Minsk Group to establish a recognized mandate for the Karabakh conflict settlement, along with a legal and political assessment of the recent terrorist attacks perpetrated against the NKR and to demand Azerbaijan to take specific steps to deter aggression.
-The shortest and most reasonable way to resolve the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh is the legal recognition of Nagorno Karabakh which would allow full and internationally recognized safeguards to ensure the security and stability of the region.
15:30- Certain parts are under control of Azerbaijan. “As we stated yesterday, based on the current situation, our troops are currently on standby. There are certain sectors that have significant positions which are under Azerbaijani control. It is important to understand that they are not bases, and that the troops are facing the circumstances they are due to the current ceasefire. As the president mentioned, these locations are about 200-250 m large in the southern positions,” Artsrun Hovhannisyan said at the press conference of the Central Clinical Hospital.
15:15- The Armenian Ministry of Defense Central Clinical Military Hospital Medical head, Colonel Kamavor Khachatryan was present at a press conference where he was joined by Armenian Defense Ministry Spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan. Kamavor Khachatryan stated that in the last couple of days, the hospital registered on case of death, which Artsrun Hovhannisyan referred to as an “unprecedented rate.”
The head of the medical department of the Defense Ministry said that in the last couple of days 121 soldiers were wounded, 10 of whom are in serious condition. In addition, 5 are in critical condition, while 4 of the wounded have had to have amputations.
15:00- A trilateral meeting took place in Baku between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Russia, and Iran. At the press conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow calls on all parties to take all necessary measures to ensure that there is no “outbreak of violence in Karabakh.” In turn, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said, “It is absolutely clear we must influence the situation. The military should return from the trenches.”
14:00 – On April 6, NKR Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan left to Martakert for a working visit. According to the NKR Defense Ministry press services, he observed the village of Talish and witnessed the impact of enemy bombardment that took place from April 2-5. He also met with the residents.
The government will make sure that those buildings and areas damaged by Azerbaijan will be subject to quick renovations. In a few days, the Minister of Urban Development will visit the damaged sites and compile a list of all the damaged infrastructure in order to start to renovation process as soon as possible,” said the prime minister, adding that the work by respective institutions who are responsible of restoring the damaged infrastructure is already in progress.
13:45 – The NKR Defense Ministry issued a statement regarding the statement the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry made during the OSCE Minsk Group meeting, which read “unlike the Armenian side, we don’t fight women and children and called it pinnacle cynicism. The NKR Defense Ministry posted a photo of the elderly residents of Talish village, Valera and Razmela Khalapyan, who were brutally executed and had their ears cut off by Azerbaijan’s “humanist” Minister Hasanov’s “mighty army.”
“After this, we ask the OSCE Co-chairs to judge by the facts and of the so-called honest features of Minister Hasanov as to who is ‘fighting women and children,’”read the Defense Ministry statement.
13:40 – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Russia of siding with Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, saying that Moscow has intervened in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as it had in Syria and Ukraine. “Russia says that Turkey is taking sides. If we are looking for someone who is taking sides, it is Russia. Russia likes taking sides; it has done so in Ukraine, Georgia and today in Syria,” said Edrogan.
13:30 – According to what NKR Spokesperson David Babayan told “Azadutyun” news, an Armenian ambulance was shelled by the Azerbaijan Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. Fortunately, the crew survived because they were away from the vehicle. David Babayan added that Azerbaijan intentionally targeted the ambulance. “The ambulance was spotted based on Azerbaijani UAV information. They knew it was an ambulance and still deliberately fired at it,” said Babayan, adding that it was a huge violation of the Geneva Convention.
12:45- On April 21-22, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay an official visit to Yerevan. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced the visit on April 6 during a press briefing.
“Due to the recent developments and events that have taken place regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, special focus will be placed on measures to stabilize the situation in the conflict zone,” said Maria Zakharova.
Zakharova also stated that the leadership of Russia will spend great effort in order to normalize the situation in the conflict zone. “We expect Russia to promote a sustainable ceasefire and work towards the resumption of the negotiation process for the peaceful settlement of the conflict,” said Zakharova.
RFE/RL reported that Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Masimov would not attend the April 8 Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) summit in Yerevan as a show of his country’s support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. For this reason, the EEU summit encompassing Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, was moved to Moscow.
11:50 – On April 6, from 23:00 to 23:30, the Azerbaijani military fired at the village of Baghanis in northeast Armenia. Baghanis village Mayor Narek Sahakyan wrote about the attack on his facebook. “There were no injuries in the attack, and the damage is being assessed,” wrote Narek Sahakyan. Narek Sahakyan urged journalists not to spread misinformation. “To fire and to bomb are two different things,” wrote Sahakyan.
11:40 – According to OSCE Minsk Group American Co chair James Warlick’s twitter, the OSCE Minsk Group Co chairs will visit Nagorno-Karabakh. “Traveling with @OSCE co-chairs today to Nagorno-#Karabakh to meet with de facto authorities and hear first hand about the violence. #NKPeace,” wrote James Warlick.
The OSCE Co chairs were in Baku yesterday.
11:15 -Artsrun Hovhannisyan posted on Facebook about how from April 6 to 7, the Azerbaijani Army made multiple attempts to infiltrate the Line of Contact in the direction of Talish. “The Armenian Defense Forces, realizing the progress that the Azeri military had made, established a well-organized defense and as a result pushed the Azeri forces back to their positions. Following the battle, the body of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces captain was left behind. The captain was a resident of Naftalan whose name was Vaqif Dilqem Oglu Bayramov (b. 1979).
This case proves that the Azerbaijani side does not respect the ceasefire agreement reached and tries with provocative means to deliberately destabilize the already explosive situation.”
10:50 – Artsrun Hovhannisyan on Facebook wrote, “On April 6, from 10:35 to 23:00, the Azeri Armed forces fired actively at the Armenian units and settlements located in the town of Vardenis (southeast Armenia). The Azeri Armed Forces used weapons of large caliber including NSV large caliber machine guns and 60 mm mortars. The Armenian Armed Forces have remained loyal to the ceasefire and have restrained from violating it.”
10:00 – According to the NKR Defense Ministry, Azerbaijani media reported that the Armenian Armed Forces fired against the Azerbaijani Units stationed in Nakhichevan. Armenia’s Defense Ministry has stated that this information is untrue and that Azerbaijan is spreading misinformation.
09:00 – NKR Ministry of Defense Reported that in the last night there were countless violations of the ceasefire regime along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. Aside from using different caliber artillery and hardware, the Azerbaijani side also attempted infiltration twice. Frontline units of the NKR Defense Army were able to detect the attempts and push back the special military ops to their starting positions.
According to the NKR Defense Ministry reports, Armenian serviceman Armen Gasparyan (b. 1974) was killed by Azeri mortar fire in the northeastern direction (Talish)of the line of contact around 18:30 on April 6. This becomes the third serviceman that was killed by the Azeris in addition to Suren Aramyan and Grigor Avetisyan (both born 1997) who were killed in the Karvachar region of NKR following the ceasefire that was signed on April 5.
