Drones have proven their effectiveness in the course of hostilities, Azerbaijan has a sufficient number of such vehicles from Turkey and other countries to achieve its goal in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“This is a very modern, advanced weapon. I can tell you that only with the help of drones purchased from Turkey, we destroyed military equipment of the Armenian Armed Forces worth $1 billion. Of course, as you know, we also use drones from other sources. We use artillery, a wide range of military equipment. However, drones alone caused $ 1 billion in damage to Armenia,” Aliyev said in an interview with the French TV channel France 24.
“This is a serious loss for them,” the President of Azerbaijan added. “We have enough drones to achieve our goals,” Aliyev said.
On September 27, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced the start of a military operation along the entire line of contact in the Karabakh conflict zone. According to the ministry, a “counter-offensive operation” is being carried out in response to provocations from the Armenian side.
After the start of the fighting, the President of Azerbaijan stated that the military operation would continue until the Armenian forces left Nagorno-Karabakh.
For his part, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced an attack on the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) by Azerbaijan. Armenia announced the involvement of the Turkish side in the conflict and the participation of militants from pro-Turkish groups in the fighting in Karabakh. These statements were rejected in Azerbaijan.
Last week, Armenia and Azerbaijan, following many hours of negotiations in Moscow, agreed on a ceasefire from noon on October 10. At the same time, the military departments of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the same day began to exchange accusations of non-compliance with the agreements and delivering strikes in the zone of the Karabakh conflict.
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since February 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan SSR.
During the armed conflict in 1992-1994, the Azerbaijani side lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven areas adjacent to it. Since 1992, negotiations have been conducted within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group on a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is led by co-chairs – Russia, USA and France.
In 1994, Azerbaijan, Armenia and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, through the mediation of Russia, signed the Bishkek Armistice Protocol. At the same time, military operations did not stop there, which periodically renewed.
The most significant exacerbation of the conflict was the four-day war of 2016. Then hundreds of soldiers on both sides became victims.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a meeting with the President of Azerbaijan last year, called for a rhetoric that would go against the fundamental principles endorsed by both sides and enshrined in the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act when resolving the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh.
At the same time, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry admitted that much more needs to be done to achieve a long-term political settlement.