now let me update you on the fighting
between azerbaijan and armenia
this is all over a breakaway region
called nagorno-karabakh and this
escalation is now into its
fourth day
this is video released by azerbaijan's
ministry of defense showing artillery
strikes on wednesday
we're told nearly a hundred people have
been killed since
sunday now nagorno-karabakh's a
landlocked region inside azerbaijan and
even though it's recognized
internationally as azerbaijan's
territory
it's controlled by ethnic armenians in
fact the region declared independence in
1991
and has ruled itself since then with the
support of the armenian government
that as you might imagine has been a
major source of tension between these
two former soviet republics
they fought a war in the late 80s and in
the early 90s over it
that eventually ended with a ceasefire
in 1994
which gave armenia full control of
nagorno-karabakh
and some surrounding enclaves as well
marked in [ __ ] yellow
and while there was a ceasefire
crucially there was no formal peace
treaty reached so this area is still
disputed as we're seeing and on sunday
this happened there was artillery fire
and shelling from both sides
armenia is accusing azerbaijan of
beginning a military operation inside
the region
azerbaijan contests that version of
events
and this is now an extraordinary
situation as the guardian puts it
we have a situation where trench warfare
is going on in europe more than a
hundred years after the first world war
it says in some areas the lines are so
close they can hear and potentially talk
to one another now azerbaijan hasn't
come out and reported any military
losses
but we know it has suffered casualties
these pictures are from azerbaijan today
we believe this is the funeral of an
azeri soldier who died in the fighting
and this picture was also taken today
it's the aftermath of shelling inside an
azerbaijani district
bordering nagorno-karabakh and you can
see the extent of the damage
next let's hear from people in another
town that's also close to the fighting
i woke up to the sound of the bomb
throne by armenians
our house shook i woke up my family my
children
we went outside and the bomb flew over
our head
and fell into our garden this has been
our life for 30 years
only the noises of shelling we are
scared
we are very scared for our children for
our young people
for our babies we want this to end soon
all our relatives are on the front line
well the bbc's goodness suffer over is
close to the town of tartar where
fighting broke out on sunday
let's hear from her throughout the day i
have heard
sounds of artillery and shells today
azerbaijan government announced that
armenian military units
fired heavy artillery at the city of
tartar
and as a result seven civilians were
injured
i have talked to many people they said
that they fled city of tartar
and many of them says that they were
living under
threat of attack for 30 years and they
just want this conflict to be resolved
now turkey is relevant to this conflict
it backs azerbaijan
and yesterday armenia accused turkey of
shooting down one of its fighter jets
killing the pilot today it released this
footage saying this is the proof it says
this is wreckage of the jet
armenia claims it was shot down by
turkey in armenian airspace now turkey
denies this
here's the armenian prime minister in an
interview on russian state tv
[Music]
armenia and the armenians of nagorni
karabakh
are now exposed to a direct threat from
turkey
according to our data turkey is looking
for a pretext to intervene even more
broadly in this conflict
armenia also claims turkey has sent
syrians to fight for azerbaijan now
there's no clear evidence of that though
the guardian is reporting a turkish
security company has recruited syrian
rebels as border guards in azerbaijan
and here you have a syrian journalist
reporting the deaths of two syrians
in the fighting now turkish officials
have dismissed the idea they're sending
syrians to fight as baseless allegations
but turkey is clear about its support
for azerbaijan
this was from monday
the time has come for the crisis in the
region that started with the occupation
of nagorni karabakh
to be put to an end
once armenia immediately leaves the
territory it is occupying
the region will return to peace and
harmony
now as you'd imagine many in the
international community are worried the
un security council is calling for an
immediate halt in fighting and a return
to negotiations
and this is the french president
emmanuel macron
i have noted turkey's declarations which
i think are ill-considered
and dangerous and i say this
particularly with regard to armenia
france within the mints group in its
role which presupposes the impartiality
that justifies my prudence
remains extremely concerned about the
war-like messages that turkey has sent
these last few hours
we also have this from azerbaijan's
president
today he said we only have one condition
armenian troops must leave our lands
unconditionally completely and
immediately
he added this condition remains in force
if the armenian government meets this
condition the fighting will stop and
blood will not be shared
but of course as he well knows that's a
very long way from armenia's
current position well family elizabeth
is an azeri journalist here at bbc news
and a news editor
for bbc russian um familial good to have
you on outside source
um they're all setting out their stalls
but they seem a long long way apart
absolutely that's the biggest problem
the biggest problem we've seen the
positions of azerbaijan and armenia
close to each other at some after some
negotiations within the minsk
group but since then a long time ago
the positions are as far apart as it is
possible
these are two really sworn enemies now
what i could do with some help with is
why is azerbaijan pushing this issue so
strongly now
when armenia has effectively been
running this region for
many years indeed azerbaijan has lost
the war it has lost the
control over the qarabag itself and also
seven surrounding regions
it uh suffered uh casualties as well as
armenians
but also hundreds of thousands of
refugees
which had to be resettled elsewhere in
azerbaijan
and this is the biggest possible problem
and issue
for the azerbaijani public they feel
that they've been overlooked by
international
community they feel that they've been
victims in this war
and they want to return back to their
homes but uh there's one big problem
that the two governments do not speak to
each other in those terms
and i wonder familiar you must have been
in touch with many friends
family and journalistic colleagues um in
azerbaijan how are they reacting to this
escalation
well the public mood now is that there
had to be war and
and if there's a war we'll have to unite
with with the army with the government
of azerbaijan
that probably was something that the
government was counting on because
with the social problems the falling
price of oil with the
reforms that are needed in the economy
the war probably is the best
possible outcome to make sure that
public
rallies around the leader but after that
you know what next
and also what i'm thinking about my
generation
uh it's our children who are fighting
now on the in the trenches of
uh kaaba it's our children on both sides
that are dying
and the blood that is spelled there is
the worst possible outcome in this
problem
and that what the governments do not
take into consideration
the blood that will make sure that the
the two nations
are as far as far apart as possible for
many years to come
from thank you very much for joining us
that's for me enrichment from
bbc russian