armenia and azerbaijan have been
accusing each other of violating
a new ceasefire intended to halt the
fighting over the disputed
nugorno-karabakh region
the u.s brokered truce was due to take
effect a few hours ago
this was the third attempt to end the
fighting which broke out in the
mountainous enclave some four weeks ago
our correspondent julia hahn has this
report from the town of barda
in azerbaijan some 20 kilometers from
the front line
[Applause]
shows us where he used to live until
very recently
a rocket hit his house in early october
he says
his home for 35 years
burned down to the walls
the whole family was sitting here
watching tv
and suddenly there was an explosion in
the backyard
everything started burning we ran
outside and called the firefighters
but when they arrived it was already too
late
burned memories
is convinced that armenia is responsible
for the attack
the neighboring country deliberately
bombed many civilian targets in the area
he says
we can't independently verify this
we're not allowed to move freely near
the front line
we are only allowed to film with the
azerbaijani authorities let us film
this school in barda for example even if
it looks like it
the children here are not students
they are refugees this has been an
emergency shelter since the fighting
started
a month ago
[Applause]
right at the entrance a memorial for a
fallen azerbaijani soldier
everyone here is convinced that their
army
is fighting for a just cause the
school's vice principal doesn't believe
that there have also been attacks on
armenian civilians
i don't know much about what's happening
on the armenian side
i only know what i see on tv here
but i can say that the armenians are
losing and must retreat
they don't have any other options we are
not trying to take armenian territory
we are fighting for what belongs to us
has been at the school for a few weeks
now with his wife and three
granddaughters
they are from tartar right on the border
with nugono karabakh
lately the clashes there have
intensified
i am worried about the girls they're
just kids
they were so scared of the fighting how
are they supposed to know what
explosions are
they should go to school and study but
they shouldn't have to learn what bombs
and missiles sound like
[Music]
at the moment the children seem safe
here barda is about 20 kilometers from
the front line
but nobody knows when they'll be able to
return
home or whether it will soon become too
dangerous here too let's get the
perspective now from the armenian
capital yerevan and dw's aaron tilton
good day to you aaron
what's the latest on this the third
attempt at a ceasefire
all right just a couple of minutes ago i
was actually able to speak to yulia who
followed
or filed rather that last report and she
was able to confirm to me that there is
the sound of artillery
fire which can be heard from the
azerbaijani side of the conflict now
at this hour dw can unfortunately not
confirm
which side is actually responsible for
those artillery salvos but we can
confirm that fighting is continuing in
the region now in terms of the political
aspects of this
the azerbaijani side is accusing of
armenia violating the ceasefire
saying that armenian forces are actually
responsible for the shelling
however this is something that armenia
has repeatedly denied this
this morning we've seen several reports
coming out of both the ministry of
defense
and the government which say that they
continue to support the ceasefire and
actually
accusing azerbaijan of running what
amounts to a disinformation campaign
saying that they're attempting to add
confusion to an already confusing
conflict
where both sides can't even really agree
to the basic facts on the ground
the us's is behind this latest the third
now ceasefire effort what's behind
washington's push in the region
well washington appears to be joining
what is a broader push by the
international computer
community to support peace in the region
now this is the third attempt at
brokering a ceasefire after two others
which were actually brokered by russia
failed in recent weeks
and i was speaking to some armenians
about this yesterday and it doesn't
really seem that surprising
they said that the united states is a
great and a powerful nation and a very
influential one
but it's also a nation that's located
very very far away from this conflict
and it's attempting to influence what
amounts to a regional conflict with
deep historical routes that stretch back
decades if not centuries
so it's not entirely surprising that
this latest ceasefire effort also
appears to be on shaky legs
aaron as you mentioned this is a
conflict with roots deep in history
what are people where you are saying
about today's fight
well here in the capitol there appears
to be broad support
um for the efforts of the of the troops
in karabakh most the armenians i've
spoken to
um view this as a purely defensive
action on their part saying they're
trying to protect their people from
um what you know they see as a potential
um ethnic cleansing which could go on in
the region if they
fail to support the armenians living in
karabakh and they really kind of put it
in the context
of some of the broader historical
conflicts we've seen like uh one thing
that's mentioned over and over again
by the people i've spoken to is the
armenian genocide
which took place during world war one
and many people here seem to be afraid
if they give a little bit of ground that
they could see similar violence cropping
up in the region
aaron thanks so much for bringing us up
to date on that ceasefire
between armenia and azerbaijan in
nagorno-karabakh thank you very much
thank you
you