Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire hopes sink as death toll rises
BAKU/YEREVAN: Hopes of a humanitarian ceasefire ending fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh sank further on Thursday as the death toll mounted and Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of launching new attacks.
Armenia accused Turkey of blocking flights carrying emergency aid from using its airspace, and Azerbaijan's president warned of "new victims and new bloodshed" from fighting over the mountain enclave that broke out on Sept. 27.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev demanded that Armenia "halt attempts to capture liberated territories back" and said his country would take all regions of Nagorno-Karabakh if Armenia "acts
negatively."
Last Saturday's ceasefire, aimed at letting the sides swap detainees and bodies of those killed in the clashes, has had little impact on the fighting around Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountain territory internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated and governed by ethnic
Armenians.
In the deadliest flare-up since a 1990s war killed about 30,000 people, 604 Nagorno-Karabakh defence personnel have been killed, ethnic Armenian authorities say.