“The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan have agreed to a humanitarian truce from 18 October at 00:00 local time,” said the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, information that has been confirmed by the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. in an identical statement.
Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan, but is under the control of ethnic forces supported by Armenia, fueling a conflict that has lasted for several decades and which escalated last September 27th.
In recent weeks, the conflict has reportedly killed more than 700 people, and Turkey, Baku’s main ally, is accused of interfering in that conflict.
At dawn today, at least 12 people died and more than 40 were injured after a missile attack on a residential area in Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second largest city, officials said.
“The launch of these missiles against densely populated locations shows the immoral and schizophrenic mentality of Armenian political-military leadership,” wrote Hikmat Hajiyev, advisor to the President of Azerbaijan, on the social network Twitter, specifying that the missiles were of the ‘Scud’ type.
Hajiyev stressed that the city of Ganja is far from the conflict zone, so the attack, which he described as a “war crime”, did not respond to any military need.
Ganja had already been hit last Sunday by a missile, which killed 10 people and left more than 30 injured.
The city has more than 300,000 inhabitants and is located about 300 kilometers west of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
The new outbreak of violence undermines international efforts to calm hostilities between Christian Armenians and Muslim Azeris, involving regional powers like Russia and Turkey.
On Friday, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and French Defense Minister Florence Parly reinforced the need for an immediate ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, where fighting between Azerbaijani soldiers and separatists is taking place. Armenians.
Mark Esper and Florence Parly agreed, during a telephone conversation, that “the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan must honor their promises of an immediate ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and a peaceful solution,” the Pentagon said in a statement. .
The United States and France have been mediators with the countries involved in the conflict since 1994, alongside Russia, in what is called the Minsk group.
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