The July 2020 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes began on 12 July 2020 between the Armenian Armed Forces and Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Initial clashes occurred near Movses in Tavush Province of Armenia, and Ağdam in Tovuz District of Azerbaijan at the Armenian–Azerbaijani state border.
Both sides accused each other of reigniting the conflict, which erupted near the Ganja gap, a strategic route that serves as an energy and transport corridor for Azerbaijan. According to ex-presidents of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, the skirmishes were provoked by Armenia, and Russian minister of foreign affairs Sergey Lavrov stated that "a trigger of sorts was the geographical factor: Armenia’s decision to restore an old border checkpoint, located in 15km distance from Azerbaijan’s export pipelines, caused strong concerns on one side and unwarranted response from the other". According to Stefan Meister, the head of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s office for the South Caucasus, the escalation was caused by the Azerbaijani side entering the Armenian territory to which the Armenians reacted immediately. The International Crisis Group states that the violence erupted after an Azerbaijani military vehicle drove close to the border with Armenia near the Armenian village of Movses.
The skirmishes continued on 13 July and continued with varying intensity, injuring many, and killing at least 17 military and one civilian. Among Azerbaijani military casualties were one major general, one colonel and two majors. The government of Armenia also reported the deaths of one major, one captain and two sergeants. The skirmishes were conducted mainly through artillery and drones, without infantry.
Hostilities between the two sides resumed on 27 September 2020, this time in Nagorno-Karabakh rather than the same areas as the July clashes. This ultimately escalated to the scale of full-on warfare, resulting in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Background
The primary matter of contention between the warring sides is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that escalated to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War between 1988 and 1994, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of the enclave (with the exception of the Shahumyan Province) in addition to areas of Azerbaijan proper connecting the enclave to Armenia. A Russian-brokered ceasefire, the Bishkek Protocol, was signed in May 1994, but numerous violations of the ceasefire have occurred since then, most notably the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes. Skirmishes have also spilled over to the Armenian–Azerbaijani state border outside Nagorno-Karabakh, with the 2012, 2014 and 2018 border clashes being prominent.
Tovuz District, the site of the main skirmishes, lies opposite to Armenia's Tavush Province, in Azerbaijan's northwestern and borderline territories, along the routes of the Baku–Tbilisi–Akhalkalaki–Kars railway, Baku–Supsa Pipeline, Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil pipeline, South Caucasus Pipeline, and the Southern Gas Corridor. The Southern Gas Corridor is a major pipeline that carries natural gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey and Europe through Georgia, located 78 kilometers west of the town of Tovuz.
Timeline
12 July
The exact cause of the initial skirmishes has been unclear. At 16:08, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence reported that starting from the afternoon "units of the Armenian Armed Forces, grossly violating the ceasefire on the direction of the Tovuz region of the Azerbaijani–Armenian state border, fired on our positions using artillery mounts". According to Azerbaijani Meydan TV reporter, Habib Muntazir, artillery fire was also conducted from Goranboy District, but this was not confirmed. In December 2020, the former president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan declared that the Armenian Armed Forces have provoked the clashes by attacking on Azerbaijani territory. In June 2021, the other ex-president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan made similar statements, also adding that "simply drove Azerbaijan into a corner, and Azerbaijan certainly had to do something", referring to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Then, at 16:55, Shushan Stepanyan, press secretary of the Armenian Minister of Defence David Tonoyan posted a written statement on her Facebook account. According to Stepanyan, at around 12:30, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces attempted to cross the state border of Armenia in a UAZ vehicle for unknown reasons. After the warning of the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani servicemen left their vehicle and returned to their position. At 13:45, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces repeated the attempt to occupy the border position of the Armenian Armed Forces, now using artillery fire, but were pressured by the Armenian side, being thrown back. According to Stepanyan, the vehicle previously controlled by the Azerbaijani servicemen was destroyed shortly after.
After that, at 17:20, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence gave a statement about the incident. According to the statement, "as a result of adequate measures taken, the enemy was hit and he was repulsed with losses". In response to statements by Stepanyan regarding the UAZ allegations, the Azerbaijani side stated that "if the Azerbaijani Army wanted to cross the state border of Armenia, it would do so not with cars, but with armored vehicles", and pointed out that the fact that the "protection of the border with Armenia in Qazakh, Ağstafa, Tovuz, Gadabay and Dashkasan was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to the State Border Service", and noted that this "confirms that Azerbaijan has no military purpose on the state border".
A recording, allegedly recorded by nearby civilians, was published by local Azerbaijani media. In the recording, Azerbaijani soldiers are shouting "Forward, soldier of Azerbaijan", while shooting sounds are heard in the background.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence reported on 13 July that Armenian forces have attacked Azerbaijani positions in Shahbuz and Julfa districts with large-caliber weapons at 22:45.
At 22:50, Shushan Stepanyan stated that "Azerbaijani forces resumed shelling from the 82mm grenade launcher in the direction of our same position from the tank". This report was confirmed by Habib Muntazir who wrote that "the situation in the direction of Tovuz has become tense again. Artillery fire was heard on both sides" in his Twitter account.
13 July
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence reported that clashes in Shahbuz–Julfa direction have stopped. According to the report, the use of rocket-propelled grenades and incendiary shells by the Armenian forces resulted in the burning of up to 5 hectares (0.050 km2) of land area.
At 1:30, the Azerbaijan State News Agency reported that Armenian forces were shelling Ağdam, Tovuz with 120mm artillery. Stepanyan, in response to the reports, stated that the Armenian forces only targeted the "engineering infrastructure and technical means of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces".
At around 14:00, the head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense, Colonel Vagif Dargahli said that Armenia's "positions, bases, artillery, vehicles, and manpower [deep in the country] were hit" in the morning. A video posted by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence shows an Armenian military base getting destroyed by Azerbaijani artillery fire.
At around 17:00, Stepanyan wrote that the "Azerbaijani Armed Forces have fired three projectiles from a 120 mm caliber grenade launcher in the direction of Chinari". According to her, one of the projectiles fell on the house, and two more in a yard. Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence denied these claims and stated that the "Azerbaijani side does not fire on the civilian population and civilian settlements".
At 18:45, Dargahli stated that the Armenian Armed Forces have "fired upon Ağdam and Dondar Quşçu villages of Tovuz District with 120mm mortars and D-30 howitzers", with Azerbaijani media sharing images of damaged houses. According to the information given by Ağdam municipality, all of the "women, children and the elderly were evacuated from the village", but "some residents stayed".
14 July
At around 5:30, Azerbaijani local media outlets reported that Armenian units fired at the Azerbaijani positions with large-caliber weapons from 3:00 to 4:00. Azerbaijani journalists in the area reported that more skirmishes occurred at around 7:00. At 7:21, the head of the Head of the Command and Personnel Faculty of the Vazgen Sargsyan Military University of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, Artsrun Hovhannisyan wrote that the "night went relatively calm", despite the claims of the Azerbaijani media. Azerbaijani journalists reported that after "a few minutes of silence, the ceasefire was violated again at 8:15".
At around 9:00, Dargahli stated that the "Armenian Armed Forces fired on Ağdam and Əlibəyli villages of Tovuz District with large-caliber weapons and artillery in the morning", also noting that there were no civilian casualties in the Azerbaijani side. Meanwhile, Stepanyan wrote that Azerbaijani "tank movement was observed from combat positions of the Armenian Armed Forces and was curtailed" by fire from the Armenian side. At 09:16, Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence issued a statement, saying that the "military units of the armed forces of Armenia violated ceasefire 74 times throughout the day in various direction of the front, using large-caliber machine guns, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, 60, 82 and 120mm mortars and the other artillery mounts to escalate the situation", also noting that the attack was "suppressed by retaliation fire". Then, at 10:30, Dargahli said that the units of the Armenian Armed Forces have "fired at Dondar Quşçu village of Tovuz District with large-caliber weapons and artillery". According to him, civilians were not harmed.
At 11:16, Stepanyan stated that the Azerbaijani forces have "targeted the civilian infrastructure of Berd with a UAV strikes". According to her, there were no casualties. Less than 10 minutes later, she shared a video of Armenian forces destroying the "Azeri bases that were shelling border settlements in Tavush".
At 12:51, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence shared a video of Azerbaijani drones destroying Armenia's "military equipment, ammunition, command post, reserves in the depths of its defense and manpower". At about 14:28, Azerbaijani media reported that the Armenian Armed Forces have "opened fire from artillery in the direction of Xanlıqlar village of Qazakh District".
At 13:00, Armenian media outlets reported that criminal cases have been opened in the Investigative Committee of Armenia on the "fact of shelling of the Tavush branch of the State Border Service of the Police of Armenia, and of shelling of the village of Chinari in the Tavush Province of Armenia by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces".
At about 14:30, Hovhannisyan reported that on 13 July Armenian-made combat UAVs were "successfully used in action for first time". At about 15:20, Stepanyan shared satellite photos, according to which, Azerbaijani village of Dondar Quşçu was "surrounded by armed battery positions". Stepanyan said that the Azerbaijani side "surrounded its own population with gun batteries, making it become a target". At around 17:50, Armenian media outlets reported that the Armenian side got control of an "important height". Later, Hovhannisyan also stated that the Armenian forces have "gained better positions", with no confirmation from the Azerbaijani side.
According to the statement issued by Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan, "roofs of houses belonging to residents of Xanlıqlar village, Salmina Aliyeva, Mahbub Orujova, Aziz Shirinov, Ilham Mehdiyev, Razim Musayev and Kamil Jahanov" were damaged due to the "detonation of a projectile fired by a unit of the Armenian Armed Forces at about 15:00".
At 19:36, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence published a video, where artillery fire from Azerbaijani units allegedly destroyed a "command post of the artillery division of the Armenian Armed Forces". Azerbaijani media outlets reported that the "ceasefire was violated yet again at 19:45". This was confirmed by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence at 20:00, which stated that the "Armenian Armed Forces resumed intensive fire on the settlements of Tovuz District and the positions of our units using large-caliber weapons and artillery at 19.30".
A subsidiary of Russian oil and gas company Gazprom, Gazprom Armenia's press service stated that the "gas pipelines have been damaged near the border with Azerbaijan", and the "supply of gas to Nerkin Karmiraghbyur, Aygepar and partly to the settlement of Chinari has been halted" because of this.
15 July
At 00:00, Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence publishes a video, where the "military equipment belonging to the Armenian armed forces" was allegedly "destroyed by the precise fire" of Azerbaijani units. At 7:30 Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence published another video, where the "base of a unit of the Armenian Armed Forces" was allegedly destroyed. At 15:02, Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence yet again published a video, and reported that the Armenian forces have allegedly violated the ceasefire in Şərur, Babək and Ordubad districts, also noting that Armenia's "military vehicle moving to the command observation post was destroyed" by Azerbaijani artillery fire. At 16:00, Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence published another video, where a "field control post of one of the units of the Armenian Armed Forces" was allegedly "destroyed by the precise fire" of Azerbaijani units.