More from Stepanakert’s streets in the morning of Oct. 6, 2020 in this CivilNet video.

Following calls for immediate cease-fire made by France, Russia, and the United States yesterday, there was a respite in fighting and shelling in Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) overnight and in the morning of October 6. Rainy weather may have helped as well. The hiatus did not last long, however, and towards the late afternoon there was again heavy missile shelling of Stepanakert – and the Armenian side reportedly responded with shelling against Goranboy, Yevlax and Beylagan northeast and east of Artsakh. According to the Defense Army, there was also resumed fighting in the southern direction near the Iranian border.

During the half a day hiatus, Armenia’s prime minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Artsakh for a meeting with NKR president Arayik Harutyunyan and the Defense Army command, first such visit reported since the start of fighting on September 27. (Pashinyan’s wife Anna Hakobyan was in Stepanakert earlier and their only son re-enlisted in the Armenian military.) In an interview with Agence France Presse later in the day, Pashinyan said that the Armenian sides remain ready to talk and to consider mutual compromises, if Azerbaijan shows similar readiness.

During the day, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Azerbaijan and appeared to dismiss international calls for cease-fire. Cavusoglu was quoted as saying that “The world has begun talk about a ceasefire. What will happen if there is a ceasefire, what has happened so far? It has been a ceasefire for almost 30 years, but no results have been achieved.” The Azerbaijani side resumed shelling of Stepanakert shortly after Cavusoglu’s comments.

Also in the morning of October 6, Russia’s foreign intelligence director Sergey Naryshkin issued a statement expressing concern that various Islamist terrorist groups, including Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as al Qaida in Syria, have become involved in the Karabakh conflict, and that that could become a direct threat to Russia. He added that “we also cannot ignore, that representatives of two friendly nations – Armenians and Azerbaijanis – are dying in this fighting.”