Armenia, Azerbaijan vow to avoid targeting residential areas

Armenia and Azerbaijan did not commit to a fresh ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during talks in Geneva, but did agree to measures to defuse tensions, including vowing not to target civilians, mediators have said.

Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov met in the Swiss city for talks aimed at reining in more than a month of clashes in the disputed region that have killed more than a thousand people.

Mediators from France, Russia and the US, known as the "Minsk Group," said in a statement they had urged the sides to fully implement a previously agreed ceasefire.

Both sides, the statement said, had "engaged in an open and substantive exchange of views aimed at clarifying their negotiating positions" on sticking points in the ceasefire agreement reached in Moscow on October 10, and subsequently reaffirmed in Paris and Washington.

They had meanwhile "agreed to take a number of steps on an urgent basis," the statement said.

Both sides had committed to "not deliberately target civilian populations or non-military objects in accordance with international humanitarian law," it said.

They had also agreed to "actively engage in the implementation of the recovery and exchange of remains on the battlefield."

Both sides also said that within a week they would deliver lists of currently detained war prisoners to the Red Cross "for the purposes of providing access and eventual exchange."

And finally they committed to provide written comments and questions related to discussions around introducing mechanisms to verify if a ceasefire was being upheld.

"The co-chairs will continue working with the sides intensively to find a peaceful settlement of the conflict," Friday's statement said.

READ MORE: Azerbaijan inflicts heavy losses on Armenian army, closes in on key town

Azerbaijan moves European court 

Azerbaijan has moved the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over Armenia’s attacks on civilians, authorities said on Friday.

In a meeting with representatives of diplomatic missions and media outlets, Azerbaijan’s Chief Prosecutor's Office said all evidence regarding Armenia’s assaults on civilians has been gathered.

With the necessary proof, Azerbaijan has officially appealed to the ECHR to take action, the authority said.

According to information shared in the meeting, an investigation has been launched against Arayik Harutyunyan, the leader of the so-called Armenian administration in Nagorno-Karabakh, his deputy David Babayan, military administrator Jalal Harutyunyan, and Armenian lawmaker Arman Babajanyan.

The probe has been launched over Armenia’s missile attack on the Azerbaijani city of Ganja and international warrants have also been issued.

It was also said that an investigation has been initiated against six people – three of them French nationals and the others from the US, Belarus, and Georgia – for fighting alongside the Armenian army.

The suspects have been placed on an international wanted list, officials said.

A separate investigation is also underway against more than 20 people fighting in the Armenian army, including citizens of Syria, Greece, Lebanon, Spain, and Canada.

Since clashes broke out on September 27, Armenia has repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani civilians and forces, even violating three humanitarian ceasefire agreements since October 10.

To date, at least 91 civilians, including 11 children and 27 women, have been killed in Armenian attacks, according to Azerbaijan's Chief Prosecutor's Office.

Some 400 people, including at least 14 babies, 36 children, and 101 women, have also been injured in the attacks.

At least 2,442 homes, 92 apartment buildings, and 428 public buildings have been damaged and become unusable, the authority said.

Upper Karabakh conflict

In total, about 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory – including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions – has remained under Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

Four UN Security Council resolutions and two from the UN General Assembly, as well as international organisations demand the "immediate complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces" from the occupied areas of Azerbaijan.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe also refers to the territory as being under the occupation of the Armenian forces.

"Considerable parts of the territory of Azerbaijan are still occupied by Armenian forces, and separatist forces are still in control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region," according to the PACE Resolution 1416, which was adopted on January 25, 2005.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group – co-chaired by France, Russia, and the US – was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail.

World powers, including Russia, France, and the US have called to halt tensions in the region. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku's right to self-defence and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces.

READ MORE: Violations reported as new ceasefire comes into force in Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a bitter conflict over Karabakh since Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of the mountainous province in a 1990s war that left 30,000 people dead.

Karabakh's self-declared independence has not been recognised internationally, even by Armenia, and it remains a part of Azerbaijan under international law.

The heaviest fighting since a 1994 ceasefire erupted on September 27 and has persisted despite intense diplomatic efforts to bring it to a halt.