UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an “immediate end to the conflict” in Nagorno-Karabakh, against which Azerbaijan launched a new attack on Tuesday, killing at least 29 people so far.

Three years after a war ended in Armenia’s defeat, yesterday’s flare-up of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with France calling for an emergency meeting of the Security Council.

That meeting could take place “in the next few days”, two diplomatic sources told AFP, citing Thursday as a possible date.

For his part, Guterres called “in the most intense way to end the conflicts, to de-escalate and strictly respect the 2020 ceasefire and the principles of international humanitarian law”, according to a statement he issued yesterday, Tuesday, evening his representative Stéphane Dizaric.

Russia also demanded this morning “an immediate end to bloodshed, an end to hostilities and civilian casualties,” the Foreign Ministry announced.

Azerbaijan’s presidency last night called on the troops of Nagorno-Karabakh — a region internationally recognized as part of Azeri territory but whose population is majority Armenian — to surrender their weapons, a necessary condition for the start of negotiations.

“The illegal armed forces of Armenia must raise a white flag, surrender all their weapons, and the illegal regime must be dissolved. Otherwise, the anti-terrorist operations will continue until the end,” he stressed.

In the event of the enclave’s separatists surrendering, the Azeri presidency proposed talks “with representatives of the Armenian population of Karabakh in Yevlakh,” an Azerbaijani city 295 kilometers west of Baku.

Earlier, Nagorno-Karabakh authorities had called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations.

At least 29 dead

At least 29 people have been killed in the clashes. The separatists of the enclave claimed 27 dead, including two civilians, and more than 200 injured, while approximately 7,000 residents of 16 areas were evacuated from their homes.

Azerbaijan pointed out that two civilians were killed in the areas it controls. In Susa city, a construction worker was killed by a mortar shell and another civilian was killed in Aghdam district.

The separatists said that many towns in Nagorno-Karabakh, including the capital Stepanakert, were under “heavy fire” targeting civilian infrastructure.

Azerbaijan’s armed forces indicated that they used “artillery”, rockets, attack drones and aircraft, while announcing that they had captured 60 Armenian positions.

Yerevan denounced “a widespread attack” aimed at “ethnic cleansing” and assured that it has no troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, implying that the separatists are alone against Azeri troops.

Armenia expects Russia, a guarantor of the 2020 ceasefire that has peacekeeping forces in the region, to act to “stop the Azeri offensive”.

The 2020 war ended with the defeat of Armenia, which was forced to cede territory in and around Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.

Tensions have been building around the enclave for months. Baku and Yerevan have clashed militarily twice over Nagorno-Karabakh, once from 1988 to 1994 and a second time in autumn 2020 for six weeks.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accuses the Azeris of wanting to “draw Armenia into hostilities.” The opposition in Armenia blames him for the 2020 defeat and he himself yesterday denounced the calls “for a coup” in his country. Moreover, in the evening clashes broke out in Yerevan between the police and demonstrators who accused him of being a “traitor” and demanded his resignation.

Russia expressed its “concern” about the “violent escalation” of the situation and announced that it is trying to bring Armenia and Azerbaijan back “to the negotiating table”.

Turkey, on the other hand, which described as “legitimate” the concerns that led Azerbaijan to take military action, also asked “to continue the negotiation process” between the two countries.