Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenia accuses Turkey of having provoked "war"

Strong words.

The Armenian prime minister on Tuesday accused Turkey of being responsible for the hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh, while Ankara still hammered its support for Azerbaijan in the conflict between it and the Armenians.

"

" declared Nikol Pashinian in an interview with AFP in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, judging that the decision of Azerbaijan "

”of Ankara.

Read also: Why has Nagorno-Karabakh flared up again?

The international community as a whole, with the notable exception of Turkey, which supports Azerbaijani military operations, calls on the belligerents to return to the negotiating table.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, visiting Baku, called on the world to "

" Azerbaijan, a Turkish-speaking Muslim country that Ankara has been encouraging since the resumption of hostilities on September 27 for the military reconquest of Nagorno Karabakh .

Contrary to the rest of the world, he openly questioned the usefulness of a ceasefire: "

".

I am convinced that, if the situation demands it, Russia will fulfill its obligations

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian

Nagorny Karabakh, mostly populated by Christian Armenians, seceded from Azerbaijan after the fall of the USSR, leading to a war in the early 1990s that claimed 30,000 lives.

The front has been almost frozen since a ceasefire in 1994, despite regular clashes.

Mr. Pachinian finally reiterated the accusations against Turkey about sending pro-Turkish Syrian fighters to participate in hostilities.

The conflict must therefore be "

", he said.

"

Unacceptable threat

"

Paris, Moscow and Washington, mediators in this conflict since the 1990s, described the crisis the day before as "

".

The Kremlin denounced Tuesday a situation which "

".

An escalation could have unforeseeable consequences, given the number of competing powers in the Caucasus: Russia, Turkey, Iran and the West.

In his interview, the Armenian Prime Minister, half-word, warned Azerbaijan against the temptation to widen the conflict to the territory of Armenia, recalling that it was bound by a treaty of military alliance to the great Russian brother.

"

" as part of their alliance, he said.

Before specifying that Armenia would be ready to make concessions if Azerbaijan is too.

Read also: Civilians flee bomb rains in Nagorno-Karabakh

Baku and Yerevan have accused each other in recent days of deliberately increasing the bombardments on inhabited urban areas, in particular on the capital of the separatists, Stepanakert, and on Azerbaijan's second city, Gandja.

AFP journalists saw many homes destroyed by rocket fire from both sides.

After a morning of calm in Stepanakert, the bombardments resumed there at the end of the afternoon.

Taking advantage of the morning respite, residents came out of their shelters to refuel and see the damage.

The NGO Amnesty International denounced the use in strikes against Stepanakert of cluster munitions, banned since 2010 by an international convention.

On the Azerbaijani side, inhabited areas are also bombed.

As every day since September 27, the two camps have claimed to inflict heavy losses on the enemy, but no belligerent seems to have taken a decisive advantage.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, whose oil-rich country has spent a lot on acquiring modern armaments, has vowed to take back Karabakh, ruling out a truce without Armenian military withdrawal from the region or "

" from Nikol Pashinian.

The death toll of 286 since the start of the conflict remains very partial.

Azerbaijan, which announces no loss among its soldiers, mentions the death of 46 civilians, while Karabakh has counted 240 soldiers and 19 civilians having lost their lives.

Baku and Yerevan, however, claim to have killed 2,300 and 3,500 enemy soldiers, respectively, and reject responsibility for the hostilities.