Azerbaijan yesterday announced that it had halted its military operation in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, after separatist Armenian forces agreed to lay down their arms and hold reintegration talks.
Baku and the ethnic-Armenian authorities in Karabakh said a ceasefire deal had been brokered by Russian peacekeepers to stop the fighting a day after Azerbaijan launched an “anti-terrorist operation.”
The separatists said they had committed to a “full dismantlement” of their forces and the withdrawal of Armenian army units from the region, which has been at the center of two wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Photo: Reuters
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said that in addition “all weapons and heavy armaments are to be surrendered” under the supervision of Russia’s 2,000-strong peacekeeping force on the ground. Both sides said talks on reintegrating the breakaway territory into the rest of Azerbaijan would be held today in the city of Yevlakh.
The collapse of separatist resistance is a major victory for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in his quest to bring Armenian-majority Nagorno-Karabakh back under Baku’s control.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a televised address that fighting appeared to have largely subsided, adding that it was “very important” the ceasefire hold.
He repeated a denial that his country’s army was in the enclave and said that he expected Russia’s peacekeepers to ensure Karabakh’s ethnic-Armenian residents could stay “in their homes, on their land.”
The latest flare-up comes three years after Azerbaijan recaptured swathes of territory in and around the region in a brief war that dealt a bitter defeat to Armenia.
Armenia said that at least 32 people had been killed and more than 200 wounded by the shelling in Karabakh as the latest onslaught from Azerbaijan saw artillery, aircraft and drone strikes rock the region.
Baku on Tuesday said that it had taken control of more than 60 military positions during “localized anti-terrorist measures.”
Russian peacekeepers and separatist forces evacuated thousands of civilians from the fighting.
The announcement of the ceasefire came after Aliyev said the military operation would continue until the separatists laid down their weapons, in the face of mounting international pressure to halt fighting.
The latest offensive raised fears that the unrest could destabilize the broader region.
Angry protesters had clashed with police in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, calling on Pashinyan to resign, while the country’s security council warned of large-scale unrest, vowing to take “effective measures” to maintain constitutional order.
More than 30 people were injured in the clashes, the Armenian Ministry of Health said.
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