Eurasianet: Karabakh calls negotiations with Azerbaijan meaninglessAs a result of a shootout in Nagorno-Karabakh, five people were killed, Eurasianet writes.
This incident, which occurred four days after the official meeting of Azerbaijani representatives with the Armenians of Karabakh, casts doubt on the effectiveness of further negotiations on the settlement of conflict situations.
John HoranAs a result of the shooting that took place in Nagorno-Karabakh on March 5, three policemen from among the Armenians of Karabakh and two Azerbaijani soldiers were killed.
As it happened, Azerbaijan, on the one hand, and Karabakh and Armenia, on the other, presented completely different versions of what happened.
The incident occurred just at the moment when negotiations between Azerbaijan and Karabakh seemed to be gaining momentum, and almost three months after the beginning of the blockade of Karabakh by activists supported by the Azerbaijani government. The activists camped near the city of Shusha, blocking the Lachin corridor, a vital transport artery connecting Karabakh with Armenia and the outside world.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry's report on the incident claims that Armenian vehicles tried to circumvent the blockade – the existence of which Baku denies – in order to transport "military equipment, ammunition and personnel" from Armenia to Karabakh.
The units of the Azerbaijani army "attempted to detain and check" some of these cars that were moving along the "Khankendi–Khalfali–Turshsu dirt road," the report says. (Khankendi is the Azerbaijani name of Stepanakert, the administrative center of Nagorno—Karabakh.)
"Fire was opened from the opposite side, as a result of the firefight there are dead and wounded on both sides," the message adds.
The Ministry stated that the only road that can be used between Armenia and Karabakh is the "Khankendi—Lachin road", and that the use of detours is a violation of the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, concluded with the mediation of Russia on November 9, 2020. The message also calls on the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in Karabakh under the same agreement to intervene in the situation.
Meanwhile, the de facto Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Karabakh stated that "a sabotage group of the Azerbaijani armed forces crossed the line of contact and carried out an armed attack on the duty vehicle of the passport and visa department" of the Karabakh police, killing three employees and wounding another. The statement claims that this invasion is a violation of the trilateral agreement.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry supported this version, adding that the attacked police car was traveling from Stepanakert to the villages of Nagorno-Karabakh and that there was nothing in it except documents and a service pistol, and Baku's statement about the transfer of personnel and weapons from Armenia to Karabakh is absurd.
Baku has been making similar statements for a long time, including that after the 2020 war, which ended with the victory of Azerbaijan, the Armenian and Karabakh forces continued to lay mines.
The International Court of Justice, the highest judicial instance of the UN, ruled on February 23 that Azerbaijan should ensure movement along the blocked Lachin corridor. In his ruling, he rejected Azerbaijan's request that the court demand new measures in connection with allegations that Armenian forces continue to plant mines on the territory of Azerbaijan.
The day before the clash, Azerbaijani media reported the death of an Azerbaijani soldier as a result of an explosion on a mine "planted by Armenians" (the scene is not reported). The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry stated that the incident on March 5 demonstrates the need to create Azerbaijani checkpoints in the Lachin corridor.
This demand was recently put forward by President Ilham Aliyev in parallel with a departure from Baku's demand for the creation of the "Zangezur Corridor", which was supposed to provide unhindered transport links between the main territory of Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhichevan through the territory of Armenia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Karabakh stated that the time of the "attack" — the incident occurred four days after the most public meeting of representatives of Azerbaijan and Karabakh — indicates that there is no point in negotiations.
"By its actions, Baku openly demonstrates the denial of negotiations as a means of finding solutions to any issues," the report says.
