UPDATE - Azerbaijan calls for truce, says ready to hand over bodies of Armenian soldiers

UPDATES WITH MORE STATEMENTS BY ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK

By Faruk Zorlu and Ali Cura

ANKARA/YEREVAN, Armenia (AA) – Azerbaijan on Wednesday called for a cease-fire with Armenia amid fresh border clashes that have caused dozens of casualties on both sides.

As a humanitarian gesture, Baku said it is willing to hand over the bodies of 100 Armenian servicemen killed in fighting over the past two days.

The soldiers “died as a result of … provocation against the territorial integrity” of Azerbaijan on Sept. 12-13, said a statement by Azerbaijan’s State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons.

“The International Committee of Red Cross has also been informed about this,” it added.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament on Wednesday that 105 Armenian soldiers have died in the recent flare-up, while the count of Azerbaijani fatalities given by Baku stands at 50.

He said Yerevan wants the Azerbaijan-Armenia issue to be taken up at the UN Security Council and has reached out to allies with this demand.

Pashinyan also called for military assistance from Russia, which helped end the deadly 2020 conflict between the two former Soviet republics.

Azerbaijan maintains that the new bout of violence was triggered by “large-scale provocations” by Armenian forces.

The two countries have had tense relations since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

The 2020 conflict saw Azerbaijan liberate several cities and over 300 settlements and villages that were occupied Armenia, before Moscow brokered a deal to end the fighting.

* Zehra Nur Duz contributed to the story in Ankara