As the Armenia-Azerbaijan border conflict at the contested breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh continues, the presidents of the United States (US), France, and Russia have issued a joint statement in condemnation of the escalating violence. In the statement, they called for an immediate ceasefire and resumption of talks between the two sides without any preconditions. The statement came a day after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that, since his country was acting in “self-defence” to restore its territorial integrity, calls for negotiations were “irrelevant”.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron urged NATO member states to press Turkey to explain why it has crossed a “red line” by sending Syrian mercenaries to fight alongside Azeri soldiers in Nagorno-Karabakh. He cited intelligence reports that said that 300 such fighters had been picked out from “jihadist groups” in Aleppo. Further, Macron noted that he had spoken with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to clarify that both their countries had the same concerns regarding Ankara’s quest for military dominance in the region. Previously, both Moscow and Ankara have been accused of sending Syrian mercenaries to fight alongside their allies in Libya.
The Kremlin, without directly mentioning Ankara, said that “extremely dangerous” fighters from Libya and Syria are being transferred to the contentious region. On Friday, Putin held a phone call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to discuss the involvement of “militants of illegal armed units from the Middle East” in the violent skirmishes. It has also been reported that Pakistani soldiers have been fighting alongside Azeri troops, although Islamabad has denied these claims. Further, Radio France Internationale revealed on Saturday that around 30 volunteer fighters from Lebanon and Latin America had also joined in the fight after receiving “express training” from Armenian forces.
On Thursday, after Israel sold arms to Baku, Yerevan recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv. According to leading armaments think-tank SIPRI, Israel has provided $835 million in weapons to Azerbaijan from 2006 to 2019. Moreover, Baku has openly admitted to using Israel-made weapons in the Nagorno-Karabakh fighting, which Armenia has protested. “Israel’s work style is unacceptable. The ministry has to call back its ambassador in Israel,” said Armenian foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan.
Simultaneously, the Canadian government announced on Friday that it was launching a probe into allegations that Canadian drone technology is being used by Azeri forces. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that a video released by Project Ploughshares, a Canada-based arms control organization, showed that the equipment, which was initially exported to Turkey, was found to have been used by Baku’s forces to conduct airstrikes.
On Sunday, Arayik Harutyunyan, President of Nagorno-Karabakh, warned Azerbaijani citizens that large cities in the country, which were to be the targets of the Artsakh Army—Artsakh is the Armenian name for the region—should be vacated. Later in the day, it was reported that Armenian troops had fired rockets to Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second-largest city, killing one citizen and wounding four others. Baku has threatened to retaliate by tearing down military targets in Armenian territory.
Analysts fear that the ongoing skirmishes could escalate into a full-blown war, drawing in more involvement from actors like Russia and Turkey, who are already involved in proxy wars in the Middle East.