In Nagorno-Karabakh, which is mostly under the control of Azerbaijan, over 120,000 ethnic Armenians are presently undergoing a humanitarian crisis as a result of being cut off from the outside world for more than 50 days.
A cathedral in Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh was damaged in fighting on October 8. Armenia has blamed Azerbaijan, which denies targeting any religious sites. Districts across Azerbaijan have also come under attack from the Armenian side. The violent conflict between the two sides, which resulted in a war in the 1990s, flared up
Turkey’s backing of Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno Karabakh enclave is coming under increasing scrutiny. Despite international pressure, Turkey is rejecting calls to back an unconditional ceasefire, as Ankara steps up its support of Azerbaijan’s military goals.
Emil Sanamyan, an analyst at the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, suggested that the trigger may have been a new outpost constructed by the Armenian armed forces, which would have given Armenia a tactical advantage in the area and which Azerbaijani forces tried to destroy.