An Azerbaijani soldier has been killed in fighting with Armenian forces near the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, news agencies reported Saturday.
The Trend and ANS Press agencies reported that the soldier was killed Friday in fighting in Azerbaijan’s Aghdam region, on the de facto border with Karabakh. Officials with Azerbaijan’s defense ministry could not be reached to confirm the reports.
Tensions over Karabakh have heightened in recent weeks amid efforts by Armenia and Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, to establish diplomatic ties and reopen their border after decades of hostility.
Azerbaijan fears the efforts will lead Ankara to soften its longstanding support for Baku in the dispute.
Backed by Yerevan, ethnic Armenian forces seized control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated after both Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
In 1992, the Organization for Security and
The two former Soviet republics have cut direct economic and transport links and failed to negotiate a settlement on the region’s status.
Armenian and Azerbaijani forces are spread across a ceasefire line in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, often facing each other at close range, and violence has often flared.
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