Nagorno Karabakh conflict rages as France, Turkey trade barbs

Saeed Pourreza

Press TV, London

Day four of fighting between Azeri and Armenian forces in the biggest eruption of their decades-old conflict since a 1994 ceasefire.

As the conflict escalates, reservists in both former soviet republics have been summoned to fight here, along what is referred to as the Line of Contact.

Armenia has published these images saying one of its fighter jets have been downed by Turkey, Turkey denied it as absolutely untrue. Azerbaijan claims its troops have killed or wounded at least 2,300 Armenian soldiers since the conflict began on Sunday.

International calls for an immediate ceasefire and talks to stabilize the situation are getting louder. But the governments in Yerevan and Baku who accuse one another of firing directly into each other’s territory, have so far brushed off that idea.

In Latvia, the French president, whose country is one of the chairmen of the Minsk-group, formed in 1992 to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict.

As the intense fighting rages, neither party is backing down. And with the number of civilian and military casualties rising, it is never too early for regional and world powers to intervene and avert a catastrophic, full-blown war.

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