AZERBAIJAN’s operation in Nagorno-Karabakh would end if Armenian separatists “lay down their arms”, President Ilham Aliyev said in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said a presidency statement today.

Aliyev told Blinken “that anti-terrorist measures will be stopped if (Karabakh forces) lay down their arms”, said the statement released after yesterday’s call.

Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry said its forces had taken control of more than 60 military positions during “localised anti-terrorist measures” in the mountainous breakaway region yesterday, which separatists said had been rocked by artillery, aircraft and drones.

Aliyev told Blinken “representatives of Armenian residents living in the Karabakh region of our country were invited to a dialogue several times by the administration of the President of Azerbaijan to discuss reintegration issues, but they refused”.

“However, they were invited to a dialogue again when local anti-terrorist measures continued,” the call readout quoted Aliyev as saying.

The fighting had killed at least 27 people, including two civilians, said the separatists. Russia said its 2,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh was evacuating civilians and providing medical assistance.

Aliyev said the civilian population and infrastructure were not being targeted in the operation, and that only “legitimate military targets” were destroyed.

Blinken said in a statement yesterday the US was “deeply concerned” by Azerbaijan’s operation and called on it to “cease these actions immediately”. – AFP, September 20, 2023.