AS MANY as 50,000 people took to the streets of Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Wednesday night calling for war on Armenia with tensions dangerously escalating between the two nations.
Security services used water cannons to disperse the crowds — with some even storming parliament — who were chanting “death to Armenians” while demanding the government mobilise troops to retake control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
At least 16 people have been killed since Sunday after Azeri forces encroached into Armenian territory, ignoring two warnings from soldiers based in the border area.
Both sides have blamed each other for the hostilities, as Turkey lined up behind its allies, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying on Tuesday he would not hesitate to defend Azerbaijan.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for “immediate de-escalation” and for peace talks to resume in a statement on Wednesday.
But Azerbaijan is accused of intensifying its attacks, launching drone strikes targeting Armenian infrastructure and shelling civilian positions in the border area in the early hours of this morning.
Armenian Defence Ministry spokesman Shushan Stepanyan said they repelled the attack in the north-eastern border territory, causing the Azeri troops to retreat.
Armenia warned Azerbaijan after a pre-school was bombed in Aygepar village, with residents forced to take shelter.
Azeri hackers are reported to be targeting the social media accounts of a number of high-profile figures, including Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan while also creating a fake account pretending to be Armenia’s Defence Ministry spokesman.
Zartonk Media, which has been covering the developing situation, claims to have received thousands of death threats and hate messages during the last 72 hours.
Hostilities between the two nations have a long history, dating back to 1918 following the Russian Revolution. That dispute was formally settled in 1920, but was never fully resolved, flaring up again in 1988.
At the centre of the disagreement is Nagorno-Karabakh, a landlocked region inside Azerbaijan which voted to join Armenia in a referendum boycotted by the Azeri minority.
War broke out between the pair after the collapse of the Soviet Union and continued until a peace agreement mediated by Russia was agreed in 1994.
Scores were killed in a four-day war in 2016, but the region has been relatively calm in recent years. It is not clear what triggered the latest events, but Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said earlier this month that peace talks had stalled.
Source: Morning Star
