BAKU, Azerbaijan

The residents of a village in an area of western Azerbaijan under attack by Armenia has asked for international help to end their suffering.

Israil Haciyev, who lives in the village of Kapanli in the city of Tartar, said they are frequently fired upon by Armenia with heavy weapons.

"Women, the elderly, children, all are leaving their homes,” he told Anadolu Agency.

“Let the whole world hear us ... such torment cannot be tolerated," said Ibrahim Zamin, another local. "What is the world doing?"

Border clashes broke out early Sunday after Armenian forces targeted Azerbaijani civilian settlements and military positions in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Relations between the two former Soviet nations have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

Four UN Security Council and two UN General Assembly resolutions as well as many international organizations demand the withdrawal of the occupying forces.

The 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. A cease-fire, however, was agreed upon in 1994.

France, Russia, and NATO, among others, have urged an immediate halt to clashes in the occupied region.