Huge developments have occurred in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict since my last blog. First and foremost it seems as if Azerbaijan had begun taking territory from Armenia and slowly pushing towards the capital of the disputed region that is being fought over as of right now. In the town of Shushi, there has been heavy fighting. What is significant about this is that Azerbaijani troops are just five to ten kilometers from the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert. Stepanakert has already been evacuated and the prime minister of Azerbaijan has already claimed victory over the city after a short period of intense bombardment and heavy fighting close to the city.

To spice up my blogs I have decided to post footage of the conflict from the sources where I get information. None of it is incredibly graphic, but viewer discretion is still advised as it does show combat.

Artillery Bombardment in Shushi

Combat in Shushi

In other news, a Russian military helicopter was shot down over Armenia by Azerbaijan. While Azerbaijan did publicly state it was an accident, Russia had voiced its concerns over the loss of two crew members. While it seems Russia was not significantly angered by the loss of the helicopter, the idea of this conflict becoming much larger than the two small countries fighting it still looms as regional powers become more and more involved in aiding and supplying the state that they wish to support. With a Russian helicopter shoot down and interference from Turkish aircraft, the chances of one of these states attacking the other on accident are very high, and grow higher each day.

Shootdown of Russian Helicopter

Shortly after the shootdown it was announced that all nations had signed a cease-fire. The controversy around this peace is that Armenia has essentially signed over control of the entire contested region to Azerbaijan, and even worse, a part of it went to Russia. Russia will now send “peacekeepers” into the region to enforce the cease-fire. Due to this controversial deal, troops have not stopped fighting on their own accord, mass protests have sparked up and taken control of the parliamentary building and government officials have been beaten. One government official was shown in a video to be badly beaten and his condition is unknown as of right now but some reports indicate that he had died from sustaining his injuries. The clip below shows protests from inside the parliamentary building in Armenia.

Rioters inside the parliamentary building.

Armenian protests over the cease-fire.

Cites:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHZDoAup-hr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link