LONDON, U.K. -- The first ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh lasted a few hours. The second ceasefire, launched a week later, lasted exactly four minutes before rockets and shells were flying through the air.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan denied shooting first.
Denial stretches credibility in this war—little and big denials.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan say they’re not targeting civilians, but cities are coming under attack and civilians are dying.
There is no denying that.
Hikmet Hajiyev is a senior policy adviser for the Azerbaijani government in the country’s capital city Baku. Here’s what he told me few days ago.
“At any moment we are expecting missiles from Armenian side to hit Azerbaijan side.”
In the hours that followed, the country’s second largest city, outside the war zone, was hit by a Scud missile, said Azerbaijan. Thirteen civilians were killed.
Armenia denied responsibility.
In the kind of language that marks the deep animosity between these two countries, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev called it a “war crime” committed by “the fascist leadership of Armenia.”
As this conflict goes, it wasn’t long before Azeri rockets landed on two Armenian towns, inside Nagorno-Karabakh. An old man, Yuri Melkonyan, wept as he sat inside his destroyed house.
“My son is in the hospital now,” he told local journalists, “and the hospital is full of young people, 19, 20 year olds, some without legs, some without hands.”
Nagorno-Karabakh is a harsh and rugged outpost in the Caucasus mountains, where Europe ends and Asia begins. It has always had a majority Armenian population, but with the breakup of the Soviet Union became part of Azerbaijan.
Let’s say that’s when the modern trouble began.
The last brutal war ended in 1994 with Armenia gaining control of the region. Upwards of a million Azeris fled their homes and have never stopped dreaming of the day they could return.
Both sides foster a violent and fervent claim of possession, and speak easily of sacrifice.
“Azeris are fighting for ethnic cleansing,” Armen Sarkissian, Armenia’s president told me in a CTV exclusive. “Armenians are fighting to protect their homes, their children, their religion, their culture.”
That sets out a harsh moral divide between warring nations. In fact, both sides have accused each other of committing “ethnic cleansing.”
“Actually, they should just return our land,” says Hikmet Hajiyev. “Our people just want justice and a return to their homes. And they deserve it.”
Azerbaijan denies starting this war, even as it launched a fierce offensive at the end of September.
It appears to be dominating the battlefield with fearsome long-range weapons and armed drones supplied by Israel. Visuals of these air strikes often end up on Twitter.
But most important of all, the Azeris have a new ally and arms supplier—Turkey, meddling in another conflict.
“Nagorno-Karabakh is fighting not just Azerbaijan, but Turkey, a NATO member,” says the incensed Armenian president. And he is upset with Canada.
“Canada is also a NATO member. Why is Canada not putting pressure on Turkey for being involved in a war that has nothing to do with Turkey.”
Indeed, Turkey’s involvement is a dangerous complication, raising concerns that Iran and Russia may get involved and turn this into a wider regional conflict.
“Bigger than Syria,” said the Armenian president.
Azerbaijan calls reports of Turkey influence “exaggeration, disinformation and propaganda.”
