Martyrs of Second Karabakh War

Martyrs of Second Karabakh War

A Total of 2,783 Azerbaijani soldiers were martyred in the Upper Karabakh war waged by the army to liberate its lands from the Armenian occupation, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

Detailing the casualties of the 44-day war that started on Sept. 27 and ended on Nov. 10 when the two sides signed a Russian-brokered cease-fire deal, the ministry said 1,245 soldiers were also injured during the war.

Some 103 martyred soldiers have yet to be identified and efforts are ongoing for DNA analyses, it said, adding over 100 soldiers remain missing and a search is underway to locate them.

Relations between the ex-Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation.

On Nov. 10, the two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement to end fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.

The truce is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces have been withdrawing in line with the agreement.

On the morning of 27 September 2020, Armenia’s Armed Forces launched a large-scale attack, subjecting settlements and frontline positions of the Azerbaijani army to intensive fire from large-calibre weapons, mortars and artillery devices of various calibre, following which, in order to halt the Armenian army’s attack and ensure the security of the civilian population, the Azerbaijani army command decided to launch a rapid counter-offensive along the whole front. As a result of these clashes, martial law and a general mobilization were declared in Armenia. In Azerbaijan, martial law and a curfew were declared, with a partial mobilization being declared on 28 September. The clashes escalated rapidly into the Second Karabakh War.

Many countries and also the United Nations called for a cessation of hostilities, for both sides to reduce tensions and resume talks without delay. Afghanistan, Ukraine, Pakistan, Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus expressed support for Azerbaijan. On 29 September, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Although a humanitarian ceasefire, supported by Russia and mediated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, was accepted by both Armenia and Azerbaijan, with official effect from 10 October, terrorist violations by Armenia’s Armed Forces that targeted civilians led to the suspension of wounded and prisoner exchange.

The background

Especially following the 1994 Bishkek Protocol signed with Armenia, Azerbaijan, which lost 20 percent of its territory as a result of the First Karabakh War, held long-term diplomatic talks with various international organizations. The purpose was to implement UN Security Council resolutions that demanded the unconditional withdrawal of occupying forces from Azerbaijani territory. The peace process was severely shaken by populist statements such as “Karabakh is Armenia, full stop”, by Nikol Pashinyan, who came to power in Armenia after the colour revolution of 2018, as well as a succession of provocative and illegal visits to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and other actions.

In a continuation of those provocations, in March 2019, while on an official visit to the United States, Armenia’s Minister of Defence David Tonoyan announced a policy of “new war for new lands.” Tonoyan’s statement was accompanied by a series of military adventures on the line of contact. In July 2020, units of Armenia’s Armed Forces used artillery fire in an attempt to seize favourable positions on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border towards Tovuz, but were unsuccessful. On 23 July, the same forces announced the launch of joint air defence system exercises with Russia. Following them, Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces hosted forces from Turkey for a number of joint military exercises until early September. Meanwhile, in August, an Armenian military sabotage-reconnaissance group attempted sabotage in the Goranboy area of the line of contact, but was forced to retreat with losses and the capture of the group’s commander, Senior Lieutenant Gurgin Alberyan.

In addition to direct military provocation, and in violation of international law, thousands of Lebanese Armenians, including a large number of YPG and PKK terrorists, were resettled in the occupied territories, following the explosion in the port of Beirut and this, too, exacerbated the conflict. Tensions peaked in late August 2020 when Anna Hakobyan, wife of Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan, publicized her participation in illegal military training in the occupied territories. However ineffective, these provocative actions and statements from Armenia have been assessed by researchers as a total negation of the negotiation process.

On 25 September 2020, Republic of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, in online debate at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, noted the deaths of Azerbaijani servicemen and a 76-year-old civilian, as well as serious damage to civil infrastructure; the results of Armenian attacks. Further, the president declared that more than a thousand tons of military equipment had been transported to Armenia by military cargo planes since 17 July. On 27 September, Hikmet Hajiyev, presidential aide and head of the Foreign Policy Department in the Presidential Administration, issued a statement that at around 06:00 there had been a gross violation of the ceasefire by Armenia’s Armed Forces. On the same day, Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces launched a counter-offensive to prevent further provocations and martial law was declared in the country.

The course of the battles

In the battles that followed, Azerbaijan advanced rapidly and incurred very few losses. Initially liberating a number of villages and strategic bridges, its forces had liberated the whole of Karabakh’s southern border with Iran by 22 October and they then began moving towards the Lachin Corridor on 23 October. That corridor was the only relatively major highway connecting Armenia with the so-called Karabakh entity; control of it would prevent Armenia from replenishing fuel, ammunition and military reinforcements. Until then, Azerbaijan had put the Armenian army under daytime attack from conventional artillery, mortars and even direct fire and guided missiles to halt their military convoys. During the war, Jabrayil was liberated on 4 October, Fuzuli on 17 October, Zengilan on 20 October, Gubadli on 25 October and Shusha city on 8 November.