The 2018 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes began on 20 May 2018 between the

Armenian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia (, abbreviated ՀՀ ԶՈՒ, ''HH ZU''), sometimes referred to as the Armenian Army (), is the national military of Armenia. It consists of personnel branches under the General Staff of the Armenian Arm ...

and

Azerbaijani Armed Forces The Azerbaijani Armed Forces () is the military of the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. It was re-established according to the country's Law of the Armed Forces on 9 October 1991. The original Azerbaijan Democratic Republic's armed forces were ...

. Azerbaijan stated to have taken several villages and strategic positions within the

Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (, ) is a landlocked country, landlocked Enclave and exclave, exclave of the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers Official portal of Nakhchivan Autonomous RepublicNakhchivan Autonomous Republi ...

. However, these areas had previously been part of a no man's land between the Azerbajiani and Armenian lines. One soldier of the

, and one or two soldiers of the

were reported KIA during the military operations.

Background

Azerbaijan accused Armenian forces of seizing control of Gyunnut, which is located

Sharur District Sharur District () is one of the 7 districts of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. The district borders the districts of Kangarli, Sadarak, as well as the Vayots Dzor and Ararat provinces of Armenia and the West Azerbaijan Prov ...

, in 1992. On 16 May 2018 Azerbaijani President

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...

visited the

. He stated that Nakhchivan branch of the

Azerbaijani Army The Azerbaijani Armed Forces () is the military of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It was re-established according to the country's Law of the Armed Forces on 9 October 1991. The original Azerbaijan Democratic Republic's armed forces were dissolved a ...

possessed missiles which could easily reach

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

's capital,

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

. Two days later, on 17 May Armenia's new

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

and

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

visited the

n– Nakhchivan border to inspect military positions.

Clashes

According to some Azerbaijani military bloggers and news sites, Azerbaijani positions in the

became exposed to artillery fire of the

. On the end of May, Nakhchivan Separate Combined-arms Army claimed to have control of Gyunnut, a village in

that has been completely destroyed by the Armenian forces in 1992, and two strategic positions, Khunutdagh and Aghbulag. Azerbaijani Armed Forces also claimed control of and took new positions on Kyzylkaya and Mehridagh strategic positions. They also claimed to have new positions in a previously unoccupied neutral zone in Nakhchivan near Armenian village of

Areni Areni () is a village and the center of the Areni Municipality of the Vayots Dzor Province in Armenia. Areni is best known for its wine production, with the majority of wine produced locally from the nearby village of Getap, Vayots Dzor, Getap. ...

Vayots Dzor Province Vayots Dzor (, ) is a province (''marz'') of Armenia. It lies at the southeastern end of the country, bordering the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan to the west and the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan to the east. It covers an area of . With a ...

Aftermath

Eurasianet Eurasianet is a news organisation based at Columbia University's Harriman Institute, the United States, that provides news, information and analysis on countries in Central Asia, the Caucasus region, Russia and Southwest Asia. Launched in 2000, ...

reported that Azerbaijani claims of advancement had been highly exaggerated, and whatever territory Azerbaijan had claimed control over was never claimed by Armenia, adding that "while the details of the Azerbaijani advance remain unclear, the lofty rhetoric seems to be a significant exaggeration. Whatever new territory Azerbaijan controls militarily was never claimed by Armenia, and it's not clear if there was any fighting.". The Armenian Ministry of Defense made a statement against Azerbaijani claims of territorial advances, claiming that a request by Azerbaijani citizens to visit the cemetery in the ruins of Gyunnut had been granted as a humanitarian gesture. Footage of Azerbaijani villagers being escorted to the cemetery was released to confirm this. Armenia's Foreign Ministry condemned Azerbaijan's actions at the border as "unacceptable and irresponsible steps aimed at escalating the situation". They also said that "it is regrettable but at the same time very predictable practice of Azerbaijan to exploit any display of goodwill and humanistic approach

rom Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

Armenia for its own propagandistic purposes". They also warned that "any provocative action on the Azerbaijani side will be immediately stopped and will trigger the adequate response from the Armenian side". Azerbaijani military experts accused

of planning an attack on

. On 8 June 2018

Azerbaijani Government The politics of Azerbaijan take place in an authoritarian system where elections are not free and fair, political opponents are repressed, civil rights are limited, human rights abuses are widespread, corruption is rampant, and power is concentr ...

announced that they started to build a new road that would be 50 km long. They also started to rebuild the roads that were destroyed during the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...

have taken up new positions in strategic locations. Arif Mamedov, a former Azerbaijani diplomat and EU Ambassador, criticized the coverage by the Azerbaijani press on a Facebook post: "Is there at least one reasonable person who believes in fairy tales that 11 thousand hectares of land could be liberated in Nakhichevan without a fight? Do they understand what 11 thousand hectares means, or is everything so tragic even with their math? Once Armenians occupied only the Kyark enclave in that territory, formerly inhabited by Azerbaijanis. Nakhichevan territories, including the village of Gyunnut, have never been occupied. Our official maps prove this too. It is ridiculous to imagine the empty village of Gyunnut village, which is in a neutral zone and has no military significance, as a strategic area. We have heard about less than 5 percent of the unemployment rate in the country, human rights protection in Azerbaijan and the collapse of Germany. Now they tell us fairy tales about victories. How many people can be fed by fairy tales?" Two years later, Azerbaijan would launch an offensive against the self-proclaimed

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh ( ), officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ( ), was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Between 1991 and 2023, Artsakh cont ...

, beginning the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding occupied territories. It was a major escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, involvi ...

Casualties

Azerbaijani casualties

On 20 May 2018 Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defence reported the death of infantryman Adil Tatarov who died while "carrying out an official assignment on the border of akhchivanand Armenia". The Armenian side stated that the corresponding Azerbaijani soldier had advanced towards the border. In response the Defence Ministry of Armenia accused Azerbaijan of breaking the ceasefire and said that "in recent weeks, at certain sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border Azerbaijani forces are conducting active engineering works to improve and move forward their positions". Nevertheless, on 6 June Adil Tatarov received the "For Heroism" Medal with an order of Defense Minister of Azerbaijan, colonel-general

Zakir Hasanov Zakir Asger oghlu Hasanov (; born 6 June 1959) is an Azerbaijani politician and colonel general who has been the Ministry of Defence (Azerbaijan), Minister of Defence of Azerbaijan since 2013. Early life and education He was born on 6 June 1959 ...

Armenian casualties

Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence claimed that three Armenian soldiers were killed during the operation. Armenian Ministry of Defence confirmed the death of Martin Khachatryan, but denied the claims of Hamlet Grigoryan getting killed in Northern Nakhchivan. They reported that he committed suicide in Eastern parts of de facto independent

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Artsakh ( ), officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ( ), was a list of states with limited recognition, breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbai ...

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018 Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes Battles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Conflicts in 2018 2018 in Armenia 2018 in Azerbaijan May 2018 in Asia Battles in 2018 Armenian–Azerbaijani border conflicts Ilham Aliyev