VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict seems to be heading towards a bright solusion after both sides agreed to a ceasefire. Secretary of the Armenian Security Council, Armen Grigoryan said Thursday (15/9) that Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire on Wednesday (14/9), after fighting took place in the past month.

Earlier, the Azerbaijani army opened fire intensely from artillery systems and machine guns at settlements in Goris, Sotk and Jemruk in Armenian territory. As reported by the Russian news agency, TASS, the Armenian Security Council held an extraordinary meeting after the attack, and decided to seek assistance from Russia.

As usual in every conflict, the warring parties always blame the other side. Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan said that 105 Armenian soldiers had been killed since Monday night in attacks he blamed on Azerbaijan. He also accused Azerbaijani troops of occupying 10 square-kilometers of Armenian territory this week. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan President, Ilham Aliyev blamed the escalation on the military and political leadership of Armenia. He claimed that it was his neighbor that started the conflict by firing at military targets in Kalbacar. According to President Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani armed forces took retaliatory measures and revealed that 50 Azerbaijani soldiers had died in the fighting.

This clash is the latest in a long series of conflicts between the two former Soviet republics over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

A military operation has been carried out by Azerbaijan to Nagorno-Karabakh since last August after three Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in Baku, by suspected Armenians. Nagorno-Karabakh itself is a disputed area that has been contested by both countries since they were separated from the Soviet Union. Even in 2020, both of them were also at war in the region for six weeks.

Hopefully, the truce agreed upon by both parties can be maintained, and become a bright solusion towards real peace. In every conflict, let alone war, no party wins as a whole. In this era of globalization, its impact will be felt in other countries. Learning from the conflicts between Ukraine and Russia, the impact that occurred was felt by not only the two conflicting countries, but also the international community.