Fighting is continuing for the 31st day over Nagorno-Karabakh, despite a third ceasefire being agreed.

[The news as it happened: 27 September, 28 September, 29 September, 30 September, 1 October, 2 October, 3 October, 4 October, 5 October, 6 October, 7 October, 8 October, 9 October, 10 October, 11 October, 12 October, 13 October, 14 October, 15 October, 16 October, 17 October, 18 October, 19 October, 20 October, 21 October, 22 October, 23 October, 24 October, 25 October]

Read our latest stories: 

• Opinion | ‘We did not speak, we only whispered’
• Evidence mounts of war crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh
• Aliyev and Pashinyan mark ‘red lines’ in interviews with RIA Novosti
• Azerbaijani peace activists called for questioning
• Opinion | On the importance of losing
• Opinion | How I learned not to hate
• Opinion | We are a generation of war
• Opinion | To stand for peace, in spite of everything
• Analysis | A dangerous turn in a 30-year conflict
• Under fire in Stepanakert

 For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

Mike Pompeo urges Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to observe ceasefire

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held separate telephone discussions with Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev about the ongoing conflict, urging them to observe the ceasefire. 

 

Death toll in Barda rises to four, officials report

Azerbaijani officials report that the death toll in Barda from a rocket strike by Armenian forces has risen to four.

Armenian Defence Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan has denied that Armenian forces carried out a strike on Barda. ‘No missile was fired from the AF of Armenia or the Artsakh #DefenseArmy in the mentioned direction’, she wrote on Twitter. 

Bayramov: Recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh ‘final nail in the coffin’ of peace process

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister, Jeyhun Bayramov in an interview with Russia’s National Defence magazine said that if Armenia’s recognises Nagorno-Karabakh would be ‘the final nail in the coffin of the current negotiating format for the settlement of the conflict with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’.  

He added that this would lead to a further escalation of the conflict. 

Azerbaijan: Barda, Tartar and Goranboy targeted, three killed

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence has stated that Armenian forces shelled the Goranboy, Tartar and Barda districts with rockets. According to Report.az, as a result three people died and 10 were injured in Barda. 

Iran’s Commander-in-Chief:  Iranian military will deal ‘severely’ with ‘terrorists’ near border 

The head of Iran’s armed forces Major General Seyyed Abdolrahim Mousavi has spoken out against ‘Takfiri terrorists, ISIL, and Zionists’ operating near the country’s borders. 

‘Our forces will deal severely with the presence of these elements near our borders’, he reportedly said. 

Aliyev:  Azerbaijan will take Nagorno-Karabakh ‘at any cost’

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in an interview with Italy’s Rai-1 TV, has said that Azerbaijan ‘will return’ Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions to Azerbaijani control ‘at any cost’. 

Aliyev said he sees the future of Nagorno-Karabakh ‘as a prosperous peaceful territory where peacefully live both Azerbaijanis, who need to be returned there, and Armenians who live there now’.

‘I think that reconciliation is possible, but the Armenian leadership must abandon the policy of aggression. If so, we can make this region one of the most prosperous regions in the world with our investments and experience in rebuilding the country’. 

Iran’s special envoy to visit Moscow, Baku, Yerevan and Ankara

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will visit Moscow, Baku, Yerevan, and Ankara to promote an Iranian initiative to resolve the conflict, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Said Khatibzadeh has announced. 

Details of the initiative have not yet been announced.

Armenian MOD: New shelling of Armenian territory

Armenian Defence Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan reports new Azerbaijani shelling of Armenian territory in the country’s south — the shelling has reportedly injured several people. 

Stepanyan has also published a video on Facebook purporting to show the attack. 

Nagorno-Karabakh MOD: Military fatalities above 1000 

The Ministry of Defence of Nagorno-Karabakh reports that military fatalities among Armenian soldiers have risen to 1009.

Azerbaijan reports that Armenian forces have shelled Tartar

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence has stated that Armenian forces are shelling the city of Tartar and villages of Tartar district, ‘grossly violating the new humanitarian ceasefire regime’.

Azerbaijan and Armenia trade accusations of ceasefire violations

Armenian Ministry of Defence Spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan reports that this morning ‘the Azerbaijani side again violated ceasefire regime shelling the Armenian border guard positions located in the south-eastern direction, at the junction with Iran’.

‘Having fixed the regular violation of ceasefire and the shelling of Armenia’s state territory, Armenia’s Ministry of Defense reports that it will have to strike in response in the direction of Azerbaijani forces’, she wrote on Twitter. 

Azerbaijani officials have denied the claim. 

Earlier, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence reported that during the night Armenian Forces ‘fired at positions’ of the Azerbaijan Army along the frontline as well as at ‘our human settlements near the frontline using various arms’. 

The Ministry stated that the battles continued ‘mainly in the Khojavand, Fizuli, and Gubadli directions of the front’. 

Anna Hakobyan joins all-woman detachment to ‘assist protecting border’

Anna Hakobyan, wife of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, announced yesterday that a detachment of 13 women, including herself, will depart to ‘assist with the protection of our borders’. They will be leaving ‘in a few days’.

In the meanwhile, Hakobyan and the other women of the detachment will take part in military exercises. 

Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Minister wounded in action

Nagorno-Karabakh President Arayik Harutyunyan announced this morning that Lt. General Jalal Harutyunyan, Nagorno-Karabakh’s Minister of Defense and Commander of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, has been wounded and discharged from his duties. 

Arayik Harutyunyan has appointed Major General Mikayel Arzumanyan as the new Defense Minister and Commander of the Defense Army.

Harutyunyan also stated that Jalal Harutyunyan’s discharge should not be subject to misinterpretation since the decision was imperative due to the injury he had suffered. ‘I wish a speedy recovery to Jalal Harutyunyan and I am sure that he will return to his country’s service very soon’, Harutyunyan said.