EU special envoy Toivo Klar demanded explanations after the appearance of a video allegedly showing the execution of Armenian prisoners of war, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
“If this video is proven to be authentic, it will constitute a war crime that must be investigated and the perpetrators punished,” Klar tweeted.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan blamed neighboring Azerbaijan for the content of the video without providing any evidence.
The two former Soviet republics have been at war with each other for decades over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
More recently, in mid-September, an attack by Azerbaijan killed over 200 people from both sides. Authoritarian Azerbaijan justified the attack as an Armenian provocation. Yerevan, for its part, stated that the target of the attack was not Nagorno-Karabakh, but areas located within the territory of Armenia itself.
Reports of gruesome videos have surfaced before.
The Armenian Ministry of Defense wants to analyze the current video but added that there is no doubt about its authenticity. Azerbaijan wants to verify its credibility.
Last night, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry suggested that bilateral talks with Armenia, scheduled for November, be postponed to this month, given the tension along the border, Reuters reported.
Yesterday, the foreign ministers of the two countries met in Geneva for talks, the first since the September fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which was the fiercest of the war between them in 2020. “During the talks, Azerbaijan proposed the next meeting of the bilateral commission to delimit border to take place in October, not November as agreed, taking into account the tension along the demarcated border,” the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.
